Despite promises of a “drastic reduction” in Russian military activity in Kiev and Chernihiv, Ukrainian officials reported further attacks on Wednesday in the vicinity of both cities.
Russian forces were also bombing almost every town on the front that separates Ukrainian government-held territory from areas held by Moscow-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, according to the local governor.
In a speech on Ukrainian TV, Oleksii Arestovich, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Moscow’s action is not a retreat, but a process of transferring forces from northern Ukraine to the east.
“Although the Russians are withdrawing some troops from Kiev, they will still leave a certain amount of forces to keep our troops here,” Arestovich said.
According to Kiev’s deputy mayor, Mikola Povoroznik, the capital was not directly attacked. “The night passed relatively calmly, with the sound of sirens and the sound of gunfire around the city, but there were no bombings in the city itself,” he said.
Already in Chernihiv, Governor Viacheslav Tchaus said there was no sign of a truce in the Russian offensive. “Do we believe it? Of course not,” said Bye on a Telegram channel, referring to Moscow’s pledge made after the round of talks in Turkey. According to him, there were a series of air strikes against Nijin and Chernihiv.
In western Ukraine, the governor of Jmelnitski, Serhii Hamalii, said industrial facilities were the target of at least three Russian attacks overnight. According to the information, which could not be independently verified, there were localized fires and emergency teams were carrying out checks to determine if there were any casualties.
Arestovich, adviser to Zelensky, also reported that street fighting in Mariupol was intense and that half of the city, located in a strategic position for Moscow’s interests, was taken by Russian forces.
In the region of Mikolaiv, the target of an attack that left a hole caused by a missile in the regional administration building on Tuesday (29), Governor Vitalii Kim said that fighting continued in practically the entire territory and, in particular, in around Kherson.
“We are not relaxing, we are working to strengthen our defense capability,” Kim said.
