Russia Shoots Areas in Ukraine Where It Promises to Move –

Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – Russian forces stormed areas around the Ukrainian capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said Wednesday, hours after Moscow vowed to reduce military operations. in those areas. The bombings have further weakened optimism about any progress in negotiations aimed at ending the punitive war.

Russia has not specified what it intends to do otherwise, and before the promise resurfaced in the hope of finding a way to peace, the Ukrainian president and others warned that the statements could only be vague and said a Kremlin spokesman they saw nothing. Turn to negotiation.

Ukrainian officials said the Russian bombings hit homes, shops, libraries and other “civilian infrastructure” in the northern city of Chernigov and on the outskirts of the capital, Kiev.

The shooting came after the British Ministry of Defense warned that although heavy casualties had forced some Russian units to return to Belarus and Russia, Moscow was likely to recover any reduction in ground maneuvers with massive artillery and missile attacks. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said Russian troops were intensifying attacks on the eastern city of Izium and the eastern Donetsk region after redeployment of some units from other areas.

Since the war began five weeks ago on the territory of Moscow, so have the consequences outside of Ukraine. The United Nations says the number of refugees fleeing the country has already exceeded 4 million, while the European Industrial Center has warned Germany, amid concerns over natural gas supplies, that Russia could cut off the supplies if it does not arrive. paid in rubles. Poland has announced measures to stop all Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was skeptical about Russia’s announcement at the end of talks on Tuesday in Istanbul that it would reduce military activity along with the capital and Chernigov.

“We can define the signals we hear during conversations as positive,” he told Ukrainian people overnight in a video speech. “But these signals do not calm the explosion of Russia’s ammunition”.

This suspicion only gained ground on Wednesday morning.

“In the Chernigov district, the so-called” The decline in activity was demonstrated by enemy attacks, including air strikes in Nizhny Novgorod, and bombing of Chernigov overnight, “said Vyacheslav Chaus, the governor of the region. In Chernihiv, civilian infrastructure, libraries, shopping centers and many houses were destroyed.

The head of the military administration of the Kiev region, Alexander Pavlyuk, said on Wednesday that Russian ammunition was targeted at residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the Bucha, Brovar and Vishhorod regions around the capital.

This is not the only attack by the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that the military was targeting fuel depots in two Ukrainian cities with long-range cruise missiles. Russian forces also hit the Ukrainian special forces headquarters in the southern Mykolaiv region, he said, and two ammunition depots east of Donetsk.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff noticed an intensification of bombings and attacks in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces are said to be focused on taking control of the besieged city of Mariupol and other cities.

Donetsk is located in the eastern industrial center of Donbass, where the Russian military is said to have shifted its focus. Russian officials have said twice in recent days that their main goal now is to “liberate” Donbass, where Moscow -backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Western officials also said Moscow was now mobilizing troops in the Donbas to encircle Ukrainian forces there. And Russia’s deadly siege continues in the south.

Some analysts suggest that the Kremlin’s apparent reduction of targets and the promise of reduced activity around Kiev and Chernigov may reflect reality on the ground: its troops sank and suffered heavy casualties in the attempt. get the capital and. Other cities.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning a rocket destroyed part of a residential building in the city of Donetsk controlled by the rebels, killing two and wounding four. The separatists blamed Ukrainian forces for the attack.

“I just sat on the sofa and … the ticket! “The window panes fell off, the fittings were cut, I can’t understand what happened,” said one of the residents, Anna Gorda.

However, there are hints of a possible agreement to end the war following the latest round of talks in Istanbul on Tuesday.

The Kyiv delegation offered a framework for a peace agreement in which the security of a neutral Ukraine would be guaranteed by a group of other countries. Among other things, the Kremlin urged Ukraine to despair of joining NATO.

Moscow responded coldly to the offer, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s presentation of its written proposals was a “positive factor”, but saw no success.

However, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said that Moscow, for now, will “primarily suspend military activity in the direction of Kiev and Chernigov” in order to “increase mutual trust and create conditions. for further negotiations “.

But Zelensky warned the world and his own people not to participate.

“Ukrainians have already learned during the 34 days of the invasion and in the eight years of the war in the Donbas that only concrete results can be trusted,” he said.

Western countries have also expressed doubts about Russia’s intentions.
“We are discussing Russia’s military machine with its actions, not just its words,” British Deputy Prime Minister Dominique Raab told Sky News on Wednesday. “There is clearly some skepticism that he will regroup to attack again instead of being seriously involved in diplomacy.”

He added: “Of course, the door to diplomacy is always open, but I don’t think you can believe what’s coming out of Putin’s war machine.”

The UK Department of Defense said in a statement that Russia’s focus on the Donbass region was “perhaps a secret recognition that it is struggling to maintain more than one main axis of development.”

“Russian units, which have suffered severe losses, have been forced to return to Belarus and Russia for reorganization and storage,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This activity puts more pressure on Russia’s tense logistics and shows the difficulties Russia faces in reorganizing its units in Ukraine’s former regions.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States had identified a small number of Russian ground forces moving away from the Kiev area, but it appeared it was a movement of forces and not a real departure.

In response to Moscow’s commitment, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said they would wait for Russia’s actions.

Blinken added that hints of Russia’s recession could be an attempt to “deceive and distract the people.”
This is not the first time. Amid rising tensions, the Russian military has announced that some units are putting equipment on car rails and preparing to return to their home bases after completing exercises. Ten days later, Russia launched an invasion.

His war destroyed a country that was once a major food exporter.

The UN Food Aid Agency says there are now 1 million people in Ukraine receiving emergency care, including 330,000 freshly baked bread for families in the eastern city of Kharkov.

According to the Rome-based World Food Program, 45% of the Ukrainian population is worried about finding enough food. Millions more have left the country.

Tetiana Parminska, a 28 -year -old from the Chernigov region who is now in a refugee center in Poland, said she hoped for peace. A nearby man plays songs on a battered black piano decorated with a white symbol of peace.

“The kids are suffering, our city and everything,” Parminska said. “We have no power.”
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This story was updated to correct that there were no face-to-face talks on Wednesday.
Reported by Karmanau from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed to this report.