Ukraine war: Russia hits near Kyiv, other city despite vows to scale back attacks; Kremlin says no breakthrough in Ukraine talks
- The governor of Ukraine’s Chernihiv region said there was no let up in Russian forces despite Moscow pledging hours earlier to wind down attacks
- The Kremlin says there was no breakthrough during Tuesday’s latest round of talks with Ukraine and there is still a lot of work ahead
Ukrainian officials reported shelling around the capital Kyiv and the northern region of Chernihiv on Wednesday, despite a promise by Moscow to scale down military operations there.
Russian forces were also shelling nearly all cities along the front line separating Ukrainian government-controlled territory from areas held by Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donetsk region, the regional governor said, and heavy fighting was reported in the southern port city of Mariupol.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia was transferring forces from northern Ukraine to eastern areas to try to encircle Ukrainian troops there.
He said Russia would keep some troops near Kyiv to try to prevent Ukrainian forces reinforcing the eastern front.
“Although the Russians are withdrawing some troops from [around] Kyiv, they will still leave certain forces here [near Kyiv] to keep our troops here,” Arestovych said in televised comments.
The Chernihiv region’s governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said he saw no let-up in Russian attacks.
“Do we believe in it [the promise to reduce military activities]? Of course not,” Chaus wrote on the Telegram messaging app.