JAKARTA - Russian troops bombarded the outskirts of Kyiv and a besieged city in northern Ukraine on Wednesday after pledging to scale back attacks, which the West sees as a ploy by Moscow to stem heavy losses and reorganize its forces, before resuming attacks.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is not keeping promises, when saying it will limit operations near the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv "to increase mutual trust" for peace talks, during talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday. This promise was made by Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Alexander Fomin.
"That's not true," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a video address to European Union regional officials.
"All night long we listened to sirens, rocket attacks and we heard big explosions in eastern Kyiv and northern Kyiv. There was a big battle there, people died, still dead," he said.
Intensive bombardment could be heard in Kyiv on Wednesday morning from the outskirts of the city, where Ukrainian forces have regained ground in recent days. The windows shook from the aftermath of the relentless artillery fire.
Meanwhile, in the southeast of Irpin, a Kyiv suburb that has seen weeks of fierce fighting, frequent gunfire and gunfire exploding on the ground and in the air could be heard. The evacuated Ukrainians spoke of heavy shelling north of Irpin and of the shells landing on Irpin itself.
Ukraine and Western leaders have warned that Moscow's peace gesture seen at Tuesday's talks in Istanbul is a cover for reorganizing forces that failed to seize Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Wednesday its troops had achieved their goal near Kyiv and Chernihiv, reorganizing its forces to focus on the 'liberation' of the breakaway eastern Donbas region.
The Donbas region, where Russia has said it will now focus its efforts, includes the port of Mariupol, where heavy fighting was reported again on Wednesday.
Mariupol, which had a pre-war population of over 400,000 people, was annihilated within a month. The United Nations says thousands of people may have died there.
Russian troops shelled almost all towns along the territory's front line on Wednesday, said the governor of Donetsk, which is part of Donbas.
The Pentagon said Russia had begun repositioning under a fifth of its troops stationed around Kyiv, but warned Moscow was expected to refit and resupply them for redeployment.
In northern Ukraine, Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Astroshenko said Russian bombardment of his city had increased over the past 24 hours, with more than 100,000 people trapped inside with only enough food and medical supplies to last about another week.
"This is yet another confirmation that Russia is always lying," he told CNN. He said 25 civilians were injured in a mortar attack in the city center.
Reuters was unable to verify the situation in Chernihiv. Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry did not return a request for comment. Reuters reporters entering the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, who was recaptured by Ukrainian forces this week, on Tuesday saw Ukrainian troops patrolling the abandoned ghost town of destroyed buildings, with the bodies of an old man and a woman lying in the streets.
About a quarter of Ukrainians have been driven from their homes and the United Nations said on Wednesday that the number who had fled the country had risen above 4 million. More than half of the refugees are children and the rest are mostly women.
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Over the past week, Ukrainian forces have retaken towns and villages on the outskirts of Kyiv, breaking the siege of the city of Sumy in the east and pushing back Russian troops in the southwest.
In the village of Mala Rohan in the eastern Kharkiv region, two burnt tanks with 'torn' tank turrets were seen near one of the damaged houses. Maksym, a Ukrainian soldier, said Russia was being pushed back "slowly but surely".
"Most of them already understand, they made a big mistake when they came here. Therefore, I think they have no chance here, we will win."
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