Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been going on for more than a month since it began on February 24. Here are some of the latest developments on March 30:
Russia announced that it would “substantially reduce” its military operations in two key areas of Ukraine to “increase mutual trust in peace talks”; Russia announced that the decision to significantly reduce military operations around the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv was part of the peace talks The first signs of progress; but it is unclear how much the reduction in military activity will be, and Ukraine remains skeptical.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he saw no reason to believe the words of some Russian representatives. “We can say the signals … are positive, but they do not overshadow the explosion of Russian shells,” he said in a video address late on Tuesday.
Officials in Washington say they have seen the Russians evacuated from Kyiv, but they are still carrying out airstrikes in the capital. The United States said it had little confidence that the announcement marked any major shift or meaningful retreat.
Turkey said the move marked the “most significant progress” in peace talks since the war began.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the initial signs of the talks were “positive” but did not overshadow the explosion of Russian artillery shells.
During talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Ukraine offered to become a neutral country in exchange for security guarantees. One of the main aims of the Russian invasion was to prevent Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance, and Russian officials said the talks had entered the actual stage.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, who is in Istanbul, told Russian television that with progress on “Ukraine’s neutrality, nuclear-free status and security guarantees”, the Russian Ministry of Defense has decided to make significant cuts in the two regions. action to “create the necessary conditions for further negotiation and signing of the said agreement”.
Ukrainian negotiator Oleksandr Chaly said the neutrality proposal put forward by Ukraine was to “restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and security through diplomatic and political means”.
The Ukrainian negotiating team said they would accept the country’s “neutrality” status in exchange for security guarantees, meaning not joining alliances like NATO, a key demand from Moscow.
Ukrainian military: Russian withdrawal claims are designed to mislead
Ukrainian troops on defense east of Kyiv (photo on March 28)
The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said Russia’s withdrawal pledge was aimed at misleading the outside world.
The Ukrainian General Staff said in a daily operational briefing posted to Facebook that Russian troops continued to withdraw from Kyiv and Chernihiv. However, the Ukrainian military believes that the Russian withdrawal “may be a rotation of individual units”, aiming to mislead the Ukrainian military leadership and cause “misunderstanding” of the intention of the Russian military deployment.
The Ukrainian military’s view echoed a statement by U.S. Pentagon spokesman Kirby, who previously said the threat to the city remained despite the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv.
In addition, the daily operational briefing also noted that Russia continued its offensive in Donetsk in the east. Russia has said that the Russian army will now focus on military operations in the eastern part of the Donbass.
Ukrainian delegation leaves Istanbul peace talks site
While talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul ended on an optimistic note, experts differed on whether this would finally end the fighting.
During the talks, Russia said it would “substantially reduce” combat operations near Kyiv, while Ukraine said it would accept “neutrality” status in exchange for security guarantees.
However, political scientist Grigory Golosov told the BBC’s Russian section he did not think the talks had “real results”. In his view, “both sides can claim victory” and “both sides are demonstrating their commitment to the negotiating process”.
Golosov said he believed Russia was speaking “loudly” in the negotiations to avoid further sanctions.
However, another political scientist, Kirill Rogov, said he saw the talks as a “turning point” in the war. “This is the beginning of a truce on the Russian side,” he said.
Samuel Green, director of the Russian Institute at King’s College London, said it was unclear “what exactly the negotiation process was”.
“It’s about a ceasefire — an agreement to stop killing people, and that’s fine,” he said. “But this is not a conversation about peace and conflict resolution.”
