As envoys made progress in peace talks Tuesday, Russia offered concessions that signaled a more realistic course for the war in Ukraine, while indicating it is also in no hurry to end the conflict, according to diplomats and analysts.
Russia’s deputy defense minister, Alexander Fomin, presented the decision to "sharply reduce” military activity around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv as a gesture "to increase mutual trust for future negotiations.”
But the Russian advance in the north had already stalled, with troops around Kyiv taking up defensive positions in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks there and near Sumy, where Russia has been having trouble encircling the main Ukrainian army east of the Dnieper River.