Human Rights Watch: Russians Executed and Tortured Civilians in Kyiv and Chernihiv

The Ukrainian military regards Russia’s announcement to scale back military manoeuvres near Kyiv and Chernihiv as a simple regrouping of troops to mislead the Ukrainian military leadership. This is stated in the General Staff’s daily update on the war.

 

The so-called troop withdrawal is more of a rotation of individual units, it says. With the announcement, Russia also wants to create a wrong image about the encirclement of Kyiv, which is said to be stopped, according to the army leadership. Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby had also stated that the threat in Kyiv would not go away because Russia withdrew troops.

The Russian army has effectively withdrawn some units from the areas around Kyiv and Chernihiv. Still, there are indications that those troops will be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine.

The fighting, meanwhile, continues near Donetsk, to the east. According to the BBC, the Ukrainians also believe that Russia is strengthening its positions and placing mines in the villages of Novokarlivka and Luhivske, near Zaporizhzhya.

In its daily update on Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defense says that it is almost certain that Russia has failed in its plan to surround Kyiv due to disappointing results and the Kyiv counter-offensive.

“Russian statements about a curtailment of activities around Kyiv and the withdrawal of certain units from that region may mean that Russia accepts that it has lost the initiative in the region,” the ministry said, which also says it is very likely that Russia will move troops to the Donetsk and Luhansk, in the east of the country.

Leave a Reply