Here are the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is about to enter its sixth week with no end in sight and its catastrophic effects widening, as Russia steps up bomb and artillery attacks a day after saying it would drastically scale back its offensive and decamp to the separatist east.
A senior Ukrainian official and the Pentagon spokesman confirmed that some Russian troops were indeed moving away from Kyiv and Chernihiv, but suggested it was for repositioning or resupply, not withdrawal. The consequences of the fighting are spilling well beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Germany is taking its first steps toward rationing natural gas, in anticipation of Russia’s potentially cutting off deliveries. The number of Ukrainian refugees has surpassed four million — half of them children. And the United Nations is forecasting the most dire world hunger crisis since World War II. Ukraine and Russia are ordinarily major suppliers of the world’s wheat and other grains.
Fighting has continued to rage in parts of Ukraine, underscoring doubts about Russia’s intentions. Local officials reported new attacks on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv, two areas where Russia had said this week that it would sharply reduce combat operations.
In the separatist enclave of Donetsk, fighting escalated on Wednesday, according to the Ukrainian military, which also reported Russian shelling and bomb strikes in the eastern city of Kharkiv, one of the invasion’s early targets.
Russia’s chief negotiator said Ukraine had made a major concession in the peace talks in Istanbul. That positive language clashed with comments from officials and war supporters in Moscow who heaped scorn on the talks. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, for instance, said there was little progress to report.
The mixed signals from Moscow came as the Biden administration released intelligence suggesting that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had been misinformed by his aides about the Russian Army’s struggles, giving him overly optimistic reports.
According to declassified U.S. intelligence, the misinformation has created mistrust and stoked tensions between Mr. Putin and his defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, who was once among the most trusted members of the Kremlin’s inner circle.
The release of the classified information was part of a monthslong campaign of information warfare by the U.S. intelligence services to counter Russian propaganda. It could not be independently verified.
Here are other developments:
President Biden is considering a plan to release one million barrels of oil a day for the next six months. That would most likely ease pressure on markets where oil prices have surged because of supply concerns.
Calling negotiations with Russia just “words,” Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian troops were preparing for new strikes on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations top human rights body has appointed a commission to investigate accusations of war crimes in Ukraine.
Russian forces have accidentally shot down their own aircraft and have refused to carry out orders, one of Britain’s spy chiefs said in a speech on Thursday in Australia. Read more
@nytimes