In talks with Ukraine’s president, Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia will “significantly lower” military combat operations in two critical areas of Ukraine in hope of accelerating peace negotiations.
The first indication of tangible progress from negotiations was the decision to scale back operations in Kyiv and Chernihiv, the northern city.
However, it is uncertain how extensive a reduction in military activity will be, and Ukraine remains unconvinced. The UK and the US also questioned whether it should be trusted.
Russia’s deputy minister, Alexander Fomin, confessed that Russia will make efforts to reduce the military operations nearby Kyiv and Chernihiv.
He went on to say that despite the fact that issues had been progressing in Ukraine’s “neutrality and non-nuclear status,” Moscow was concerned about them.
President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s warning that the United States and its allies had threatened Ukraine with a “nuclear holocaust” triggered speculation about whether he was alluding to his country’s withdrawal.
“I believe that the signals… are good, but the explosions and Russian artillery rounds drown out those signals,” he continued.
“We’ve only observed a small number of people moving away from Kyiv,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, adding that people should be “ready to keep an eye on for a major assault against other parts of Ukraine.”
The UK Ministry of Defence has said that Russia will “no doubt” attempt to redirect combat power away from the north and towards their eastern offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Russia has directed its military campaign toward Ukraine’s eastern regions. Following a string of failures to the north of Kyiv, it is also attempting to take control of a land route that runs down the south coast and across into Russia.
The meeting went on for about three hours. Very little information was leaked, and the majority of the press were kept out of a densely packed zone along the sidewalk outside.
As the Ukrainian team emerged from their hotel an hour before the scheduled end, several key elements became apparent.
They claim that Ukraine should have a neutral status in exchange for security guarantees, an international mechanism where guarantor countries would act to protect Ukraine in the future, according to negotiators.
One of the most important concessions was that Ukraine would not join Nato, which is a key Russian demand. This wasn’t an entirely new promise; rather, it was presented in the most explicit terms yet.
Many people are wary about what Russia’s promise to scale back military operations implies; whether it’s a promise to retreat or simply an acknowledgment that it has failed in those regions and will instead concentrate its entire strength further east.
As a result, Western nations are now claiming that they will evaluate Russia based on its actions rather than words.
Ukraine offered to become a neutral state in exchange for security guarantees during Tuesday’s ceasefire negotiations.
According to the documents, a key aim of Russia’s invasion was to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Russian officials claimed that discussions had advanced to a practical level as a result of the invasion.
Oleksandr Chaly, a Ukrainian negotiator, said that his country’s neutrality offer – which implies they would not engage in military cooperation with other countries – was an opportunity to “restore the territorial integrity and security of Ukraine through diplomatic and political means.”
The Russian troops have surrounded Chernihiv, where officials claim up to 400 people have been killed and some 130,000 residents are without heating, electricity, or water supplies.
Russia’s top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, stated that Ukraine’s ideas on neutrality would be presented to President Putin.
However, he noted that before a presidential summit could take place, a treaty would need to be written and approved by the negotiators, followed by foreign ministers’ signatures.
“This is not a cease-fire, but rather our goal: to achieve at least a partial de-escalation on these fronts,” he added. “It’s time for the parties to sit down and talk.”