Sun | Jul 5, 2026

Russia vows to scale back near Kyiv

Published:Wednesday | March 30, 2022 | 12:11 AM
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, top military commander in charge of the defence of the Ukrainian capital, walks in a trench at a position north of the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday. The first face-to-face talks in two weeks between Russia and Ukraine began T
AP
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, top military commander in charge of the defence of the Ukrainian capital, walks in a trench at a position north of the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday. The first face-to-face talks in two weeks between Russia and Ukraine began Tuesday in Turkey, raising flickering hopes there could be progress towards ending a war that has ground into a bloody campaign of attrition.

KYIV (AP):

Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks.

Ukraine’s delegation at the conference, held in Istanbul, laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations.

Moscow’s public reaction was positive, and the negotiations are expected to resume on Wednesday, five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition, with thousands dead and almost four million Ukrainians fleeing the country.

Amid the talks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow has decided to “fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv” to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations”.

He did not immediately spell out what that would mean in practical terms.

The announcement was met with scepticism from the US and others.

While Moscow portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, its ground troops have become bogged down and taken heavy losses in their bid to seize Kyiv and other cities. Last week and again on Tuesday, the Kremlin seemed to lower its war aims, saying its “main goal” now is gaining control of the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden, asked whether the Russian announcement was a sign of progress in the talks or an attempt by Moscow to buy time to continue its assault, said: “We’ll see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive people and deflect attention”.

Western officials say Moscow is reinforcing troops in the Donbas in a bid to encircle Ukraine’s forces. And Russia’s deadly siege in the south continues, with civilians trapped in the ruins of Mariupol and other bombarded cities.

“There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does, and we’re focused on the latter,” Blinken said in Morocco. “And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalisation of Ukraine.”