© Reuters. Dima, a three-year-old boy injured in the shelling of Mariupol, lies in bed in a children’s hospital ward as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, March 29, 2022. REUTERS/ Marko Djurica
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By Natalia Zinets and Gleb Garanich
LVIV, Ukraine/KYIV OUTSKIRTS (Reuters) – Russian forces shelled a besieged city in northern Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after promising to scale back operations there, and Kyiv and other allies. Western allies rejected the retreat near the capital as a plot to regroup the invaders’ heavy losses.
Nearly five weeks after the invasion, which failed to capture any major cities, Russia said it would cut back on activities near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv “to enhance mutual trust” for talks. peace judgment.
However, Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Astroshenko said the Russian bombardment has only intensified in the past 24 hours, with more than 100,000 people trapped in the city with only enough food and medical supplies to last by about an hour. one more week.
“This is another confirmation that Russia has always lied,” he told CNN in an interview. “They really increased the intensity of the attacks,” with “a huge mortar attack in central Chernihiv” on Wednesday that injured 25 civilians. Reuters could not immediately verify the situation there.
In an overnight speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made it clear that he does not consider Moscow to be saying anything in terms of face value.
“Ukrainians are not naive people,” he said. “Ukrainians have learned in these 34 days of aggression and over the past eight years of the war in the Donbas, that the only thing they can count on is a concrete outcome.”
Zelenskiy adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Moscow is moving some forces from northern Ukraine to the east, where they are trying to encircle the main Ukrainian force there. Some Russians will stay near Kyiv to defeat Ukrainian forces, he said.
Russian forces also hit industrial facilities in western Ukraine in three airstrikes overnight, a regional governor said.
Over the past week, Ukrainian forces have made remarkable achievements, retaking towns and villages on the outskirts of Kyiv, breaking the siege east of Sumy and pushing back Russian forces to the southwest.
The Pentagon said Russia had begun moving a very small number of troops from positions around Kyiv, describing the move as more of a repositioning than a retreat.
“We should all be prepared for a major attack on other parts of Ukraine,” said John Kirby (NYSE:) spokesman. “It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over.”
The British Ministry of Defense said Moscow was forced to pull troops from the vicinity of Kyiv to Russia and Belarus, to resupply and reorganize after suffering heavy losses. Russia will likely make up for its reduced ground mobility through artillery and missile attacks, Russia added.
RECRUITMENT TACIT
Russia said it was carrying out a “special operation” to disarm and “denuclearize” its neighbour. Western countries claim that Moscow launched an unprovoked invasion, including an all-out assault on the capital that was repelled by fierce Ukrainian defenses.
In recent days, Moscow has said its main focus is in southeastern Ukraine, an area known as the Donbas, where it is trying to capture more territory to hand over to the separatists it has been supporting. since 2014.
The area includes Mariupol, a port of 400,000 people that has become desolate after a month of siege by Russia, and where the United Nations believes thousands may have died.
On Wednesday, Russian forces shelled almost all cities along the front line separating Ukrainian government-controlled territory from separatist-held areas in the region, the governor of Donetsk said. said, and heavy fighting was reported in Mariupol.
The British Ministry of Defense, in an intelligence briefing, said the announcement that Moscow was now focusing on the southeast was “probably a tacit admission that it is struggling to maintain more than one important forward axis”.
About a quarter of Ukrainians were driven from their homes by the biggest attack on a European country since World War Two. The United Nations said on Wednesday that the number of people fleeing the country had risen above 4 million. More than half of those refugees are children and the rest are mostly women.
‘FIND RUBLES’
Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face peace talks in nearly three weeks at a palace in Istanbul on Tuesday. Ukraine presented a peace proposal under which it would accept neutrality status with international guarantees to protect it from future attack. The proposal calls for a ceasefire and would postpone discussion of Russia’s territorial claims.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said it would be good to have Ukraine’s proposal in writing but there is no sign of a breakthrough yet. Russia, he said, cannot negotiate over Crimea, which it seized and annexed in 2014.
Western sanctions have isolated Russia from world trade to a degree never before seen for such a large economy. But Russia remains the main supplier of oil and gas to Europe, and Moscow is trying to create that leverage.
Last week, Moscow told its gas buyers in the West that they would now have to pay in rubles, a request rejected by the G7 group of industrialized democracies.
On Wednesday, Germany, Russia’s largest gas customer, declared an “early warning” of a possible emergency if Russia cuts off supplies.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck urged consumers and companies to reduce consumption, saying “every kilowatt hour counts”. Supplies are protected for the time being, but “however, we must strengthen our precautions to prepare for an escalation on the Russian side”.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov said the switch to ruble payments would take time and would not be immediately imposed. Russia’s central bank and gas monopoly will propose a plan to pay in rubles on Thursday.
In a social media post, the speaker of the Russian Parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said: “Europe should not be against valuing the ruble.
“If you want gas, look for rubles,” he said.
Volodin proposed expanding the need for ruble payments to other exports, such as oil, grains and metals. Peskov calls this a good idea to be studied.
(Performed by Natalia Zinets and Gleb Garanich; Written by Peter Graff; Edited by Frank Jack Daniel)
