Ukraine’s defence ministry said Russian forces in Ukraine are regrouping and preparing for renewed offensive operations, Reuters reports.
Russia’s main efforts are focused on surrounding Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesperson, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, said.
Russian forces are still trying to take the besieged southern port city of Mariupol and the towns of Popasna and Rubizhne in Luhansk, he added.
Ukraine had observed some movements of Russian forces away from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions but did not consider this to be a mass withdrawal, he said.
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Putin demands surrender of Mariupol to end shelling
In a call with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday night, Vladimir Putin said Russian shelling of Mariupol will only end when Ukrainian troops surrender, the Kremlin said.
According to French officials, Putin had agreed to consider plans to evacuate citizens out of the southern Ukrainian city which the Elysee palace said had become a “catastrophic” situation.
A statement from the French government read:
Civilian populations must be protected and must leave the city if they wish to.
They must have access to food aid, water and the medicines they need. This very degraded humanitarian situation is linked to the siege of the city by the Russian armed forces.
France, along with Turkey and Greece and several humanitarian groups, have presented the Russian president with a plan to evacuate the city.
Officials said Putin told Macron that he would “think about” the proposal.
However, in its readout of the call, the Kremlin said Putin had insisted to Macron that Ukrainian “nationalist militants” must surrender.
According to the Kremlin, Putin said:
In order to resolve the difficult humanitarian situation in this city, Ukrainian nationalist militants must stop resisting and lay down their arms.
The statement added that Putin had given Macron “detailed information about measures taken by the Russian military to provide emergency humanitarian assistance and ensure the safe evacuation” of civilians from Mariupol.