Analysis: Russian statements reflect a significant – but temporary – win for Ukraine
Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Russia’s announcement on Tuesday that it would “reduce military activity” around Kyiv and the nearby city of Chernihiv has been greeted with predictable scepticism, not least because shelling of both cities has continued.
While some movement of troops from the north back to Belarus has been detected, these appear to be part of normal operational redeployments, and they do not yet definitively amount to a retreat. Ukraine’s general staff said overnight Russia was engaged in “probably a rotation of the separate units and aims at misleading”.