Russia repositioning forces, not withdrawing: Pentagon

Zelenskyy dismisses Russian claims of scaleback

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Russia has started to reposition under 20 percent of the forces arrayed around Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, but cautioned Russia was expected to refit and resupply them for redeployment into Ukraine, and not bring the forces home.

Russian forces bombarded the outskirts of the capital Kyiv and the besieged city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after Russia said it would scale down military operations in both cities in what the West dismissed as a ploy to regroup by invaders suffering heavy losses.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said some of the Russian forces may have already moved into Belarus, as opposed to their home garrisons.

“They are leaving Kyiv and heading more toward the north, away from the city,” Kirby told a news conference.

Troops leaving the area included some of those around Chernihiv along with those fighting near the town of Sumy, Kirby said.

He added that Kyiv was still being attacked by air and ground strikes.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east of the country as Moscow builds up its troops there after suffering setbacks near the capital Kyiv.

Russia says its forces are regrouping to focus on “liberating” the breakaway eastern Donbas region.

In an early morning video address, Zelenskyy referred to Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and Chernihiv and said that was not a withdrawal but rather “the consequence of our defenders’ work.”

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine is seeing “a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that.”

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said some Russian troops were also leaving from near the Chernobyl power station. It was not clear if the troops leaving were departing the exclusion zone around the plant or the surrounding towns.

Military analysts say Russia has reframed its war goals in Ukraine in a way that may make it easier for Moscow to claim a face-saving victory despite a woeful campaign in which his army has suffered humiliating setbacks.

Kirby added that Russian contractor Wagner Group had deployed about 1,000 personnel into Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Moscow has declared a priority.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said in the past that Wagner and other private groups neither represent the Russian state nor are paid by it, though he says they have a right to operate provided they do not break Russian law.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AFP) — A record-breaking U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station Wednesday, with tensions between Moscow and the West soaring over Ukraine.

“The crew of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, has returned to Earth,” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

Footage broadcast from the landing site in Kazakhstan showed the Soyuz descent module touching down at the expected time of 1128 GMT in bright conditions before the crew emerged from the vehicle that had blown onto its side.

“Tasty!” said Shkaplerov, the first man out of the descent module, as he sat sipping a tea provided by recovery staff.