by Vitalii Hnidyi and Sergiy Karazy
MALA ROHAN/PRES D’IRPIN, Ukraine (Reuters) – The Russian army shelled the outskirts of Kyiv and the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after it promised a drastic reduction in its operations soldiers in these regions, as a pledge of de-escalation.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky reacted with skepticism on Tuesday evening to this announcement, which could be just a simple tactical withdrawal according to Westerners.
Nearly five weeks after the launch of its massive offensive against Ukraine on February 24, which claimed thousands of victims and more than 4 million refugees, Russia promised on Tuesday to reduce its operations around Kyiv and in Chernihiv “in order to increase mutual trust”, as Russian-Ukrainian talks were taking place in Istanbul.
“Ukrainians are not naive,” replied Volodimir Zelensky in a video message on Tuesday evening. “The Russian army still has significant potential to continue its attacks against our state,” he continued. “Therefore we are not relaxing our defensive efforts.”
Intense shelling could be heard Wednesday morning from the suburbs of the Ukrainian capital located on the front line, where Ukrainian forces have regained ground in recent days. Kyiv itself was unaffected but windows rattled in the capital to the sound of artillery barrages.
Reuters journalists present in the southeast of Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv which has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks, could hear frequent explosions. Residents returning from Irpin reported heavy shelling north of the city and in the center.
Irpin was recaptured this week by Ukrainian forces. According to the mayor, Oleksandr Markouchyne, 200 to 300 civilians were killed before the reconquest of the city. Reuters reporters who were able to enter on Tuesday saw Ukrainian troops patrolling among ruined buildings and the bodies of an elderly man and woman lying in the streets.
SHELLING ON THE DONBASS FRONT
Further north, Chernihiv Mayor Vladislav Astrochenko said Russian shelling had intensified in the past 24 hours. More than 100,000 residents are trapped with only a week’s worth of food and medicine to last, he said.
“This confirms once again that Russia keeps lying,” he told CNN. “They actually increased the intensity of their strikes,” he added, referring to a “colossal mortar attack” in the city center which he said left 25 injured.
Reuters could not verify the situation in Chernihiv. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In western Ukraine, in the Khmelnitskyi region, the Russians shelled industrial facilities, the regional governor said.
In the east, the Russian army shelled almost all the towns on the front line of Donbass, according to the governor of the oblast (region) of Donetsk, Pavlo Kirilenko. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that it was now focusing on a complete “liberation” of the eastern region, the scene of a pro-Russian armed insurgency since 2014.
According to an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksiy Arestovitch, Russia is moving troops from northern to eastern Ukraine to try to encircle opposing forces, while leaving a part around Kyiv to prevent the delivery Ukrainian reinforcements to the east.
The Russian army is at a standstill on most fronts and several units that have suffered heavy losses have been forced to return to Russia or Belarus for supplies, the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily update on the conflict.
This retreat “illustrates the difficulties that Russia is having in reorganizing its units deep in Ukrainian territory”, he said, while saying that he feared that the Russian army would compensate for this retreat on the ground with artillery barrages and missile strikes, while many towns remain besieged and shelled.
Russia has not captured a major city since the start of its invasion, designated by Moscow as a “special military operation”, and Ukrainian forces have claimed in recent days the recapture of territories around Kyiv, as well as in the north- east and south of the country.
REPOSITIONING?
Journalists who were able to visit areas of the Kharkiv region (east) taken over by Ukrainian forces saw razed villages, charred carcasses of tanks and the charred bodies of soldiers. At Mala Rohan, one such locality, Maksym, a Ukrainian soldier, said the Russians had been pushed back “slowly but steadily”.
According to the Pentagon, the Russian military has moved some units around Kyiv in what looks more like a repositioning than a withdrawal. US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that a major offensive was to be expected in other regions.
Heavy fighting still pits the Russian army against Ukrainian forces in Mariupol in the southeast, Sumy and Kharkiv in the east, Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south, among other regions.
Thousands of civilians may have been killed in Mariupol since the Russian military launched its offensive on the Sea port of Azov more than a month ago, the head of the local United Nations mission told Reuters on Tuesday. United for Human Rights, Matilda Bogner.
According to Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovitch, Russian forces have captured about half of Mariupol.
The conditions for a humanitarian mission in the city are not yet met, the Elysee Palace said on Tuesday after a telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The leaders of the “Quint” (Germany, United States, France, Italy, United Kingdom) agreed, during a telephone interview, to continue to press for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, while Russia is under heavy economic sanctions.
Germany activated the first level of alert for its emergency gas supply plan on Wednesday, after Moscow announced its intention to charge for its gas deliveries in rubles from now on, a measure rejected by the countries of the G7, but which fuels fears of supply disruptions.
On the diplomatic front, the head of Russian negotiators, Vladimir Medinsky, said on Wednesday that Kyiv had shown willingness to meet key Moscow demands during their talks in Turkey, but he added that Russia’s position on the Donbass and Crimea remained unchanged.
Ukraine has offered to adopt a neutral status in exchange for international guarantees for its security and to initiate a long period of consultation for the status of Crimea and discussions between heads of state on the fate of Donbass.
(Reporting Gleb Garanich in the suburbs of Kyiv, a Reuters journalist in Mariupol, Pavel Polityuk in Lviv and the editorial staff of Reuters; written by Costas Pitas and Michael Perry, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Matthieu Protard and Jean-Michel Bélot )