'Ukraine Ain't Naive': Zelenskyy on Russian Promise of Reducing Ops Near Kyiv

Zelenskyy's comments come after the fifth round of talks between the two countries.

A soldier stands on a bridge destroyed by the Ukrainian army to prevent the passage of Russian tanks near Brovary, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 28, 2022.

(Photo: PTI)

Soon after Russia announced scaling down military operations around Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed scepticism about the claims, saying that "Ukraine isn't naive."

Maintaining that Ukraine is "aware of all the risks" and will trust only "concrete results," Zelenskyy said: "The signals we hear from the negotiating platform can be called positive."

Zelenskyy's comments come after the fifth round of talks that were held between the delegations of the two countries in Turkey on Tuesday.

What Russia Said

Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin on Tuesday announced that Moscow had decided to withdraw Russian forces from near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and Chernihiv to "increase mutual trust" at talks aimed at ending the war.

"Given that the talks on the preparation of an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine have moved into a practical field... a decision has been made to radically... reduce the military activity in the areas of Kyiv and Chernihiv," AFP reported.

Ukraine's Proposals

Ukraine is reported to have made several key demands at the talks:

• An international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will act in a similar way to NATO's article number five

• US, China, France, and Britain, all members of the UNSC, will be guarantor nations

• Ukraine would accept neutral status if the security guarantees work

• International accord on the country's security won't block Ukraine's possible membership in the EU