After the Istanbul talks, there is a first glimmer of hope: Russia says it is reducing troops near Kiev. However, the Ukrainian military believes it is a deceptive maneuver, and the US Department of Defense is warning of a new Russian military offensive.
Russia’s announcement of a partial de-escalation of the war in Ukraine is met with growing skepticism. “We Ukrainians are not naive,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Tuesday. It has been learned that you can only trust what is really happening, he explained, with a view to more Russian bombing. Attacks were reported on Wednesday in the Chernihiv region and Lysychansk in the Luhansk region. He was quiet in Kiev.
The US and British governments also see heavy casualties and an attempt to rally the invading army as the main reason for the announced Russian withdrawal northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. “We must all prepare for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine,” said US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby. British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Wednesday that Russia will be judged by its actions, not its words.
Did Russia have to withdraw parts of the military?
According to British intelligence services, some Russian units withdrew to Belarus and Russia after suffering heavy losses in Ukraine, in order to organize supplies and reposition. This highlighted the difficulties Russia is facing in its advance into Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defense said in a morning update, citing intelligence information. The partial withdrawal increases pressure on Russian logistics that remain in the country.
Moscow is expected to make up for its weakened combat force on the ground with more rocket attacks, he said. Russia’s focus on areas in eastern Ukraine is believed to be “a tacit admission” that Moscow is struggling to make progress on other axes.
“I would be very cautious about taking what comes out of Putin’s war machine at face value,” Deputy Prime Minister Raab told Times Radio, referring to the Russian president. Britain is very skeptical of any promises made by Russia. “Ultimately, they should be judged for their actions and withdraw from Ukraine, not just reposition themselves.”
Attacks continue unabated
Russian bombing in other parts of Ukraine continued on Wednesday. The governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine reported heavy Russian artillery shelling on residential areas in the city of Lysychansk. “Some skyscrapers were damaged,” Serhiy Gaidai wrote on Telegram. “Many buildings have collapsed. Rescue teams are trying to save those who are still alive.”
According to its deputy mayor, the night in the capital Kiev was relatively quiet. The bombings could be heard outside the city. However, the city itself was not bombed.
First glimmer of hope or disappointment?
There was progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on Tuesday. Ukraine had offered its neutrality and not join NATO. There was also talk of a 15-year transitional rule for Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. As a confidence-building measure, the Defense Ministry in Moscow then announced that it would drastically reduce military activity in the cities of Kiev and Chernihiv – but only there.
The Chernihiv region is still under fire from Russian troops. “Do we believe the announcement? Of course not,” writes Governor Wiatscheslav Tschaus on the Telegram message service. “The enemy shows the ‘reduced activities’ in the Chernihiv region with air strikes in Nizhyn and all night in (city of) Chernihiv.”
Because of the war, Russian authorities have extended flight bans in the south of their own country for the sixth time – this time until April 7. A total of 11 airports remained closed, including those in the Black Sea resort town of Anapa, Rostov-on-Don and the city of Krasnodar, the Rozaviazia aviation authority said on Wednesday. Gelendzhik, Voronezh and Simferopol airports on Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula on the Black Sea, which was annexed in 2014, are also affected by airspace restrictions.
(APA/AFP/Reuters/dpa)