Russian units facing huge losses exited Ukraine, Britain’s military intelligence

Some Russian units suffering heavy losses in Ukraine were forced to return home and neighboring Belarus, British military intelligence said a day after Russia promised to reduce military operations around Kyiv and another city.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted with skepticism to an offer made by Russia during talks in Istanbul, now in its fifth week aimed at de-escalating the conflict.

His forces have halted offensives on most fronts, and some analysts have noted that Russia has promised to reduce fighting in mostly covered areas, where it is losing ground, even Citizens are stranded in besieged cities to the south and east.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said heavy losses and the withdrawal of some troops were affecting Russian operations.

“Such activity is putting further pressure on Russia’s already tense logistics and demonstrates the difficulties Russia is rearranging its units in further areas within Ukraine,” said an assessment on Wednesday. .

The ministry said Russia would continue to compensate for its low ground maneuvering capability through massive artillery and missile strikes.

Russia has failed to capture any major cities in its month-long offensive, while Ukrainian forces have progressed, capturing territory from Russian troops on the outskirts of Kyiv to the northeast and south.

A recaptured area on the road leading to the village of Rusaniv was littered with burnt tanks and pieces of Russian uniforms. Nearby houses were destroyed.

Russia called its attack a “special operation” to disarm and “deny” Ukraine. The West says that he launched an unprovoked invasion. Thousands were killed or injured in the biggest attack on a European nation since World War II, forcing nearly 4 million to flee abroad and crippling Russia’s economy with sanctions.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the proposal to reduce some military operations was a confidence-building step for ongoing talks with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul.

“Fundamentally to reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions, by a large margin, in order to increase mutual trust and create the prerequisites for further negotiations and to achieve the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (a) the agreement The decision was taken.” Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told reporters.

Fomin makes no mention of other areas that have seen heavy fighting, including Mariupol in the southeast, Sumy and Kharkiv in the east, and Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south.

“Ukrainians are not naive people,” President Zelensky said late Tuesday.

“The Ukrainians have already learned during these 34 days of the invasion and the last eight years of war in the Donbass, that the only thing they can count on is a tangible result.”

big attack possible

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Russia has begun moving a small number of troops away from the situation around Kyiv, more than a withdrawal or withdrawal from the war.

“We should all be prepared to see a major offensive against other regions of Ukraine,” spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing. “This does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over.”

Britain’s Defense Ministry previously said: “It is highly likely that Russia will try to divert war power from the north to its offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to the east”.

Reuters could not immediately confirm claims made by both sides.

The Moscow-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic may consider joining Russia in eastern Ukraine when it controls Ukraine’s Donetsk region, its leader was quoted as saying. Kyiv has said that any such move would have no legal basis.

In Ukraine’s besieged port of Mariupol, thousands of civilians could die, the head of the UN human rights mission in the country told Reuters on Tuesday.

Those who are left are suffering.

“We are eight people. We have two buckets of potatoes, one bucket of onions,” said Irina, an engineer, in her apartment, where the windows were smashed.

In the southern city of Mykolaiv, a missile detonated a hole in the main administrative building. Officials said at least 12 people were killed and 33 were injured.

The Russian military accused Ukraine’s military in the cities of using the ceasefire to restore war preparedness and setting up firing points in hospitals and schools, Interfax news agency said.

A German government spokesman said the leaders of Germany, the United States, France, Britain and Italy agreed in a phone call on Tuesday afternoon to press Russia for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of its troops from Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Tuesday discussed developments in the situation around Ukraine, including the latest round of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, the Kremlin said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Deputy National Security Adviser for Economics Duleep Singh will both visit India to lobby for New Delhi, which has called for a ceasefire but refused to explicitly condemn Moscow.

proposals

Ukrainian negotiators said that under their proposals, Kyiv would agree not to join the coalition or host bases of foreign troops, but would be guaranteed security similar to “Article 5”, the collective defense clause of the transatlantic NATO military alliance.

The proposals, which would require a referendum in Ukraine, referred to a 15-year consultation period on the status of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

The fate of the southeastern Donbass region, which demands Russia to hand over Ukraine to separatists, will be discussed by Ukrainian and Russian leaders.

Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said one of Kyiv’s proposals was that Moscow would not oppose Ukraine joining the European Union. Russia has previously opposed Ukrainian membership of the European Union and in particular NATO.

Medinsky said the Russian delegation would study and present the proposal to President Putin.