“They are going to smash up Irpin and control it completely, hosing the area down, and then use the area to regroup and resupply,” one military expert who had visited the area told The Telegraph. 

“The bridge may be down, so their land forces may have difficulty advancing right now. But they can still use the area to launch mortars from. It’s also a psychological tactic, to show the Ukrainian people that they are gaining. Then they’ll also come in from the east, and finally there’ll be a drive to the south. 

“I think within the next 10 days, Kyiv will be surrounded. I know everyone says the Russians haven’t got enough food, and they have logistical problems. But this is not a rag-tag army. They are still professionals and they are very capable of doing this.”

The tightening Russian grip on Irpin could end up being the first permanent foothold that Vladimir Putin’s troops have on Kyiv, their earlier efforts at lightning advances into the city having largely been repelled. 

Nonetheless, with the siege already having lasted nearly a fortnight, many residents now appear to expect it to continue for at least the same time again, if not far longer.

“I think there are going to be several stages to this war,” said Oleksandr Sudarkin, a co-ordinator with Come back Alive, a Ukrainian diaspora-backed voluntary organisation that provides troops and national guards units with extra supplies of military equipment such as night-vision goggles, iPads and telescopic sights.

He spoke to The Telegraph at a base in the city centre, one of hundreds that will be used to support street fighting if the Russians reach this far.

He said: “The first stage was very fast and aggressive, with the Russians just trying to get as far as they can. Now we have slowed them down a bit, but we are going to have to rest and recover if we can. Otherwise, we will just be exhausted when we need our strength the most.”