The Sun reported that Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin announced it will “drastically reduce” its forces near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as well as the Chernihiv region.
Moscow has decided to fund “cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations” , said Fomin.
The Sun reports skepticism of previous announcements of troop withdrawals by Russia, but that there is also a new round of peace talks, as well as “Ukrainian military leadership had said it had began to notice Russian troop withdrawals from Kyiv and Chernihiv.”
Additionally, Ukrainian forces were able to retake the town of Irpin near Kyiv, which may indicate Russian forces are receding, or simply failing.
Nonetheless, concern remains. “These statements are absolute lies intended to win time for strengthening Russian positions,” tweeted government adviser Anton Gerashchenko.
Ben Wallace, Britain’s Defence Secretary is also skeptical, saying of the Russians: “They must think that we were born yesterday.” However, The Sun reports “footage geolocated to north of Kyiv showed Russia’s infamous ‘Z’ tanks trundling away from the city back towards Belarus.”
Putin may be succumbing to his unexpected inability to clench a quick victory he thought he would have when he ordered the invasion of Ukraine. “The Russian death toll has reached as high as 17,000 with several generals and other top commanders among those killed” adds The Sun.
Despite the victories, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned there would still be hard fighting to come. “We still have to fight, we have to endure,” said Zelenskyy
“This is a ruthless war against our nation, against our people, against our children.” Fighting is also raging in Kherson as Ukrainian forces try to retake the first major city to fall into Russian hands.