Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the change on the battlefield was intended to boost confidence in the talks, as several rounds of negotiations failed to stop what has turned into a bloody campaign of destruction.
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The announcement was met with skepticism by the US and others. While Moscow presented it as a gesture of goodwill, its ground troops have been bogged down and have suffered heavy losses in their efforts to occupy Kyiv and other cities. Last week and again on Tuesday, the Kremlin appeared to be overturning its war goals, saying its “main goal” now was to gain control of the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. The story goes on under the ad 2:34 At least 8 dead in Mykolaiv, Ukraine after a rocket hit a regional headquarters, officials say At least 8 dead in Mykolaiv, Ukraine after a rocket hit a regional headquarters, officials say US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he saw no indication that the talks were proceeding “constructively” and suggested that Russian signs of withdrawal could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive the people and divert attention”. ». “There is what Russia is saying and there is what Russia is doing, and we are focusing on the latter,” Blinken said in Morocco. “And what Russia is doing is the continuing brutality in Ukraine.” He added: “If they somehow believe that an attempt to subjugate only the eastern part of Ukraine or the southern part of Ukraine… can succeed, then once again they are deeply fooling themselves.” Volunteers collect sandbags to cover and protect the Monument to Princess Olga, St. Andrew the Apostle and educators Cyril and Methodius in Kyiv on March 29 amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images Even as negotiators from both sides gathered in Istanbul, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces stormed an oil depot in western Ukraine late Monday and opened an open hole Tuesday morning in a nine-story government building in the southern city. of Mykolaiv. At least seven people were killed in the attack, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The story goes on under the ad “It’s awful. They were waiting for people to go to work” before they hit the building, said regional governor Vitaliy Kim. “I fell asleep. I’m lucky.” Fomin said Moscow had decided to “fundamentally cut off military activity in the direction of Kiev and Chernihiv” in order to “increase mutual trust and create the conditions for further negotiations.” He did not immediately specify what that would mean in practical terms.
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The Ukrainian military says it has withdrawn troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN “we have not seen anything to confirm” reports that Russia was withdrawing significant forces from Kyiv. “But what we have seen in the last two days is that they have stopped trying to move on to Kyiv.” Trending Stories
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Rob Lee, a military expert at the US-based Institute for Foreign Policy Research, wrote on Twitter: . “Russia does not have the power to encircle the city.” Tuesday’s meeting in Istanbul was the first time negotiators from Russia and Ukraine have spoken face to face in two weeks. Previous talks, conducted in person in Belarus or via video, have shown no progress towards ending the more than a month-long war that has killed thousands and displaced more than 10 million Ukrainians, including nearly four million leave the country. The story goes on under the ad 6:22 BC A man who volunteered in Ukraine says fighting there has intensified in BC. male volunteer in Ukraine says fighting there has intensified Fomin suggested that progress be made this time around, adding that “negotiations on an agreement on Ukraine’s neutrality and non-nuclear status, as well as on providing security guarantees to Ukraine, are focused on practical issues.” The Ukraine group has set a detailed framework for a peace deal under which the country will remain neutral, but its security will be guaranteed by a group of third countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Turkey, China and Poland. , in an agreement similar to NATO’s principle “an attack on one is an attack on all”. Ukraine has also said it would be willing to hold talks for a 15-year period on the future of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula in 2014. Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of the regional government headquarters in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, after a Russian attack on March 29. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says seven people have been killed in a rocket attack on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolayiv. Petros Giannakouris / AP The Kremlin has demanded, among other things, that Ukraine abandon any hopes of joining NATO, which it considers a threat. The story goes on under the ad Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, told Russian television that Ukraine’s proposals were a “step in the middle of the road, a clearly positive development.” He warned that the parties were still far from reaching an agreement, but said: “We now know how to proceed with the compromise. “We are not just marking time in conversations.” In recent days, Ukrainian forces have launched counterattacks and recaptured territory on the outskirts of Kiev and elsewhere. They recaptured Irpin, a key suburb northwest of the capital, Kiev, Zelenskyy said late Monday. But he warned that Russian troops were regrouping to retake the area.
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Ukrainian forces also occupied Trostyanets, south of Sumy in the northeast, after weeks of Russian occupation that left a devastated landscape. Arriving in the city on Monday a little later, the Associated Press saw the bodies of two Russian soldiers in the forest and the Russian tanks were sitting burned and twisted. A red “Z” meant a Russian truck, with its windshield broken, near stacked boxes of ammunition. Ukrainian forces over a tank shone the signs of victory. Stunned residents lined up among the charred buildings, asking for help. Putin’s ground forces have been thwarted not only by stronger-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, but by what Western officials say are Russian regular mistakes, bad morale, shortages of food, fuel and equipment for cold weather and other problems. The story goes on under the ad 2:14 Is Russia’s strategy changing to divide Ukraine? Is Russia’s strategy to divide Ukraine changing? Reinforcing what the military said last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the “liberation of Donbass” was now Moscow’s main goal. While this presents a possible exit strategy for Putin, it has also raised fears in Ukraine that the Kremlin intends to divide the country and force it to hand over part of its territory. – Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report. © 2022 The Canadian Press
