Istanbul Talks: Russia pledges to scale back near Kyiv, withdrawal ‘designed to mislead’ says Ukraine military

With Russia’s war in Ukraine into its second month, there has been movement at peace talks in Turkey.

The latest negotiations for a truce in Istanbul, Turkey was on Tuesday between the representatives of Russia and Ukraine appear to make progress towards a ceasefire as another round of talks between the duo is expected to get underway in Istanbul on Wednesday.

At the talks, Russia promised to scale back some military operations, amid a switch to focus on Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian side described the negotiations as constructive. The country’s deputy defense minister pledged to scale down operations around the capital to help build trust. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said, “We’ve decided to drastically scale down military activity around Kyiv and Chernihiv.”

Ukraine wants an international agreement that would see several countries guarantee its security.

Ukrainian officials reported some progress in the talks. They said they discussed a new framework to ensure that Ukraine has security without becoming a member of NATO. They named possible security guarantors, including the US, Britain, Canada, Poland, and Turkey.

Russian delegate’s promise to withdraw some troops from positions around Kyiv is received with caution as other parts of the country are facing new attacks.

The Pentagon says a small number of Russian units have moved away from Kyiv. But its spokesperson called it “a repositioning, not a real withdrawal.”

Western leaders have reacted with skepticism to Moscow’s pledge to “drastically reduce” combat operations around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv.

“We’ll see,” said Joe Biden. “I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.” The consensus of Western allies, he said, was to “see what they have to offer”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “I’ve not seen anything that suggests that this is moving forward in an effective way, because Russia — at least we’ve not seen signs of real seriousness.”

Ukrainian President Zelensky expresses his skepticism about Russia’s pledge to scale back military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv, saying “Ukrainians are not naïve people.”

In his nightly video message, he said there was no reason to believe Russia’s announcement that it would reduce military activity near the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv, given what’s still happening on the ground.

“We can call those signals that we hear at the negotiations positive,” he said, “but those signals don’t silence the explosions of Russian shells.”

Zelenskyy said it was Ukrainian troops who forced Russia’s hand into making some concessions at the talks in Istanbul, but added: “We shouldn’t let down our guard” because the invading army can still carry out attacks.

“Ukrainians are not naïve people,” he said. “Ukrainians have already learned during the 34 days of the invasion and during the past eight years of war in the Donbas that you can trust only concrete results.”

Meanwhile, the latest intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defence says Russian units in Ukraine have been “suffering heavy losses” and “forced to return to Belarus and Russia to reorganise and resupply.”

The MoD says this strategy shows the difficulties the Russians have been facing to organise logistics on the frontlines.

By LENS with AFP, AP