NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880/AP) -- Russia’s military said Tuesday it would “fundamentally...cut back" operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city “to increase trust” in peace talks, though Western officials remained skeptical of the claims, with President Biden saying, "I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are." The potentially significant concession by Moscow came as negotiators met face-to-face for five hours in Istanbul on Tuesday following several rounds of failed negotiations. Ukraine signaled that it is prepared to abandon hopes of joining NATO and is open to negotiating over the future of Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. However, neither side indicated anything about a ceasefire or troop withdrawal as the fighting nears its sixth week.
TUESDAY MARCH 29, 2022
9:00 p.m. - Ukraine ambassador: Russia being demilitarized
Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the “demilitarization of Russia is well under way.”
Since the beginning of the invasion into Ukraine, Kyslytsya said the Russian occupiers have lost more than 17,000 military personnel, over 1,700 armored vehicles and almost 600 tanks.
He also said Russia also has lost 300 artillery systems, 127 planes and 129 helicopters, almost 100 rocket launchers systems, 54 air defense systems and seven ships.
Kyslytsya said that is “an unprecedented blow to Moscow, where the numbers of Soviet losses in Afghanistan pale in comparison.”
Earlier Tuesday, Russia announced it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks.
Negotiations are expected to resume Wednesday, five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition, with thousands dead and almost 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.
5:30 p.m. - More than 10M Ukrainians have fled their homes since start of war: UN
Over 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since the start of last month's war, a UN Humanitarian Affairs representative said Tuesday.
UN Humanitarian Affairs Deputy Emergency Coordinator Joyce Msuya said 6.5 million are internally displaced and 3.9 million have crossed the borders to nearby countries.
Fortunately, more than 1,230 UN personnel are on the ground in Ukraine, collaborating with more than 100 humanitarian organizations.
“Ukraine is a humanitarian paradox: Side by side with extreme violence we see extreme kindness, profound solidarity and the gentlest of care,” Msuya said.
5:15 p.m. - Pentagon sees 'shift' from Russian forces in Kyiv
The Pentagon said it has detected “small numbers” of Russian ground forces moving away from the Kyiv area.The Pentagon says it has detected “small numbers” of Russian ground forces moving away from the Kyiv area.
Spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the movement appears to be a repositioning of forces, “not a real withdrawal.” He said it was too soon to say how extensive the Russian movements may be or where the troops will be repositioned.
“It does not mean the threat to Kyiv is over,” he said. “They can still inflict massive brutality on the country, including on Kyiv.”
He said Russian airstrikes against Kyiv are continuing.
Asked whether the Pentagon assesses that Russian military campaign in Ukraine has failed, Kirby said the Russian forces have failed in their initial objective of conquering Kyiv but remain a threat to the country, including the eastern Donbas region where Russian forces now appear to be focusing more fully.
4:15 p.m. - Ukrainian parliament members tell Congress military support needed
Members of the Ukrainian parliament visiting the U.S. Congress are urging their American allies to send more military supplies -- air support, tanks and other equipment - to push the Russians out of their country.
As the Ukrainian legislators spoke Tuesday at a Capitol Hill press conference, one of their cell phones blared with the sound of an air raid siren going off in the country back home.
The Ukrainians spoke at a roundtable with members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, a longstanding group from the U.S. House focused Ukrainian issues.
2:25 p.m. - Biden on Russia's pullback claims: ‘We'll see if they follow through’
President Biden said he’s waiting to see how Russia adjusts its troop presence in Ukraine before assessing the intent behind them.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden was asked whether the proposed pullback was a sign that negotiations to rein in the month-long invasion might be showing progress, or an indication that Russia was merely trying to buy time to continue its assault on Ukraine.
“We’ll see,” he said. “I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are. We'll see if they follow through on what they're suggesting.”
As for the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Biden said the consensus of Western allies is to “see what they have to offer.”
2:15 p.m. - Western officials skeptical of Russia’s claims of a Kyiv pullback: 'There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does'
Western officials remain skeptical of Russia’s claims that it would “fundamentally...cut back" operations near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv “to increase trust” in ongoing talks aimed at ending fighting.
A U.S. official told Fox News that “any movement of Russian forces from around Kyiv is a redeployment, not a withdrawal, and the world should be prepared for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine.”
“No one should be fooled by Russia’s announcements,” the official said. “It also does not mean the threat to Kyiv is over. Russia has failed in its objective of capturing Kyiv, and failed in its objective of subjugating all of Ukraine, but it can still inflict massive brutality on the country, including Kyiv.”
Western officials familiar with the intelligence picture told the Associated Press that Moscow is reinforcing troops in the Donbas in an attempt to encircle Ukraine’s best-trained and best-equipped forces, which are concentrated in the eastern region. Moscow has said gaining control of the Donbas is now its main military goal in Ukraine.
A Western official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence said it’s clear that Russia’s “tactics and strategies are changing” but it’s not yet clear what that prefigures.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had not seen anything indicating talks were progressing in a “constructive way,” and he suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive people and deflect attention.”
“There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does, and we’re focused on the latter,” Blinken said in Morocco. “And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization of Ukraine.”
He added, “If they somehow believe that an effort to subjugate only the eastern part of Ukraine or the southern part of Ukraine ... can succeed, then once again they are profoundly fooling themselves.”
The British government also expressed skepticism about Russia’s claims to be scaling back and its commitment to ending the war through talks.
“We will judge Putin and his regime by his actions, not by his words,” said Max Blain, spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin-backed leader of the Russian province of Chechnya has called for storming Kyiv.
Ramzan Kadyrov’s statement came Tuesday as the Russian military announced after a round of talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul, Turkey that it would scale back its combat operations near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv.
Speaking to about 10,000 troops in Chechnya’s regional capital of Grozny, Kadyrov said that “we need to complete what we have started and shouldn’t stop.” He said if Moscow had allowed his fighters to press the offensive, “I’m more than confident that we would have entered Kyiv and established order there.”
Kadyrov has posted numerous videos on a messaging app allegedly featuring himself and Chechen fighters on the outskirts of Kyiv and in the besieged Sea of Azov port of Mariupol. Those videos couldn’t be independently verified.
1 p.m. - Head of Russian delegation says ‘two big steps toward peace’ made at talks
The head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine said that Moscow sees the latest meeting as a step toward compromise.
Vladimir Medinskiy said on Russian RT television that Russia sees Ukrainian proposals made Tuesday during the talks in Istanbul as a “step to meet us halfway, a clearly positive fact.”
He added that the two parties have a long way to go to reach an agreement.
Medinsky said that Russia made “two big steps toward peace” during the talks, first by agreeing to reduce military activities around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. He said Russia agreed to a prospective meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once a prospective peace treaty is ready for signing.
11:30 a.m. - European nations expel dozens of Russian officials
In what appeared to be a coordinated action to tackle Russian espionage, at least four European allies expelled a total of dozens of Russian diplomats on Tuesday.
The expulsions come against a backdrop of relations between Russia and the West that have been plunged into a deep freeze following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Netherlands said it was expelling 17 Russians who it described as intelligence officers masquerading as diplomats.
Belgium said it was ejecting 21 Russians.
The Czech Republic gave one Russian diplomat 72 hours to leave the country.
Ireland told four senior Russian officials to leave the country because of activities deemed not “in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behavior.”
Poland last week expelled 45 Russians whom the government identified as intelligence officers using their diplomatic status as cover to operate in the country.
11 a.m. - Russia, Ukraine have reached ‘a consensus’ on some issues: Turkey foreign minister
Turkey’s foreign minister said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have reached “a consensus and common understanding” on some issues.
Mevlut Cavusoglu said the two sides made “the most meaningful progress” since the start of the negotiations at a meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday. He said the meeting would be followed by a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers.
Cavusoglu said a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders was also “on the agenda,” he said. He didn’t give a timeframe.
He said that difficult issues “will be taken up at a higher level.”
Cavusoglu added that Turkey encouraged the two sides to “secure a cease-fire” and an agreement on the issue of the opening of humanitarian corridors.
The Ukrainian delegation laid out a possible framework for a future peace deal based on legally binding security guarantees that would provide for other countries to intervene if it is attacked.
Delegate Oleksandr Chaly said the guarantees should be similar in character to NATO’s Article 5, which pledges members of the alliance to defend each other in case one is attacked.
The delegation said Ukraine is prepared to pledge to be neutral, not to host foreign military forces and to hold talks over the next 15 years on the future of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Delegate David Arakhamia said there would be a peace deal which would be secured by a referendum in Ukraine. That would take place only after all foreign troops have left.
Russia’s views on the proposal were not immediately clear.
8:35 a.m. - Russian military claims it will 'fundamentally...cut back' operations 'to increase trust' in peace talks
Russia’s deputy defense minister said that Moscow has decided to “fundamentally ... cut back” operations near the Ukrainian capital and another major city to “increase mutual trust” at talks aimed at ending the fighting.
Alexander Fomin said Russian forces would cut back “military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv.”
Fomin’s statement comes Tuesday after another round of talks Russia and Ukraine held in Istanbul and appears to be the first major concession the Russians made since the beginning of their invasion in Ukraine more than a month ago.
The Ukrainian military's general staff said earlier it had noted withdrawals around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense minister says that “liberating” the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is the main goal of Moscow’s military operation, underlining a possible shift in strategy announced last week by another Russian military official.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose few public appearances this month raised questions about his health and whereabouts, held a meeting with top military officials on Tuesday and said that “overall, the main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been completed.”
He said that “the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces has been significantly reduced, which makes it possible to focus the main attention and main efforts on achieving the main goal — the liberation of Donbas.”
The minister stressed that the Russian military will continue the operation until “the set goals are achieved.”
7:30 a.m. - Ukraine-Russia talks focusing on security guarantees: Zelenskyy adviser
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the talks under way with Russia in Istanbul are focusing on security guarantees for Ukraine and hopes of a cease-fire.
Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian media on Tuesday that there are “intensive consultations going on regarding several important issues, the key among those is an agreement on international security guarantees for Ukraine.” He said that “only with this agreement can we end the war in a way that Ukraine needs.”
He adds that “the second block of issues is a cease-fire so that we could resolve all the humanitarian problems which have piled up and which require urgent resolutions.”
Podolyak added the two sides were also discussing breaches of the rules of war.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the two sides that they had a “historic responsibility” to stop the fighting.
“We believe that there will be no losers in a just peace. Prolonging the conflict is not in anyone’s interest,” Erdogan said, as he greeted the two delegations seated on opposite sides of a long table.
Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy said his country was prepared to declare its neutrality, as Moscow has demanded, and was open to compromise over the contested eastern region of Donbas — comments that might lend momentum to negotiations. But even as the negotiators assembled, Russian forces hit an oil depot in western Ukraine and demolished a government building in the south, with several deaths.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aim of a quick military victory has been thwarted by stiff Ukrainian resistance. But any hope that raised about prospects for an end to the conflict was accompanied by Western skepticism about the Russian leader’s commitment to seeking peace. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she thought Putin was “not serious about talks.”
7 a.m. - Kremlin rejects reports Russian billionaire may have been poisoned
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected reports that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich may have been poisoned as part of an “information war.”
The investigative news outlet Bellingcat reported Monday that Abramovich and two Ukrainian delegates suffered symptoms of poisoning after attending talks between Russia and Ukraine on March 3.
Peskov said Tuesday that Abramovich has been “ensuring certain contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian sides” but is not an official member of the Russian delegation. He said that Abramovich’s role has been approved by both sides.
Britain’s Foreign Office said a statement Tuesday that “the allegations are very concerning.”
He said of the reports that Abramovich may have been poisoned: “It’s part of the information war. These reports obviously do not correspond to reality.”
A Bellingcat investigator said the dosage wasn’t lethal and the “most plausible” explanation for the alleged attack is that it was a warning to Abramovich and any other wealthy Russians who might seek to intervene in the negotiations.
“He volunteered to play … this role of (an) honest broker, but other oligarchs had … declared certain independence from the Kremlin position and criticize the war,” Christo Grozev told Times Radio. “So it could well be seen as a warning sign to them to not join the ranks of those who dissent, and to not be too much of an honest broker.”
6:30 a.m. - UN nuclear watchdog arrives in Ukraine
The U.N. nuclear watchdog says its director-general has arrived in Ukraine for talks with senior government officials on delivering “urgent technical assistance” to ensure the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Rafael Mariano Grossi’s aim is to “to initiate prompt safety and security support” for Ukraine’s nuclear sites. That will include sending IAEA experts to “prioritized facilities” and sending “vital safety and security supplies” including monitoring and emergency equipment.
It said that Grossi will travel to one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants this week, but didn’t say which one. Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors at four active power plants, and also is home to the decommissioned Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. Russian forces have taken control of Chernobyl and of the largest active power plant, at Zaporizhzhia.
Grossi said in a statement that “the military conflict is putting Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and other facilities with radioactive material in unprecedented danger.”
He added that “there have already been several close calls. We can’t afford to lose any more time.”
6:15 a.m. - Ukraine official calls on countries to ban letter “Z” in support of war
Ukraine’s foreign minister, called on countries to ban the use of the letter “Z” as a symbol of the Russian war on Ukraine.
In a tweet Tuesday, Dmytro Kuleba said the letter in some contexts “means Russian war crimes, bombed out cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians.”
Russian troops in Ukraine have painted the letter Z on the side of vehicles and it has been adopted by some in Russia as a symbol of support for what the Kremlin describes as a “special military operation” in the neighboring country.
6 a.m. - “We still have to fight, we have to endure,” Zelenskyy says
In fighting that has devolved into a back-and-forth stalemate, Ukrainian forces retook Irpin, a key suburb northwest of the capital, Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday. But he warned that Russian troops were regrouping to take the area back.
“We still have to fight, we have to endure,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation. “This is a ruthless war against our nation, against our people, against our children.”
He also lashed out at Western countries, which he has repeatedly accused of not going far enough to punish Moscow with sanctions or support Ukraine. Western hesitancy in providing weapons makes those nations partially responsible for the destruction wrought, he said.
“Fear always makes you an accomplice,” he said.
A missile struck an oil depot in western Ukraine late Monday, the second attack on oil facilities in a region that has been spared the worst of the fighting. On Tuesday morning, an explosion blasted a hole in a nine-story administration building in Mykolaiv, a southern port city that Russia has unsuccessfully tried to capture.
Seven people died in the missile attack and 22 were wounded, Zelenskyy said in an address to Danish lawmakers.
“It’s terrible. They waited for people to go to work” before striking the building, said regional governor Vitaliy Kim. “I overslept. I’m lucky.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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