NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said that Russia is not keeping its word and withdrawing from key battlefronts in Ukraine. The alliance chief further added that he expects additional offensive actions by Moscow that will be ‘bringing even more suffering’. 

Stoltenberg added that Russia is not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region.

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Moscow had promised during peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”

Stoltenberg, speaking at a news conference in Brussels for the 2021 Annual Report, said that intelligence says, “Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region. At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities.”

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“We can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering,” Stoltenberg said.

He further added that ‘Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions’ and the US will judge Moscow on its actions and not words. 

“We have heard the recent statements that Russia will scale down military operations around Kyiv and in northern Ukraine. But Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, so we can only judge Russia on its actions, not on its words.”

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Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday had said that Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian services said that the death toll after a Russian missile strike Tuesday on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolaiv has risen to 20.

The emergency services said rescuers had now found 19 bodies in the ruins since the strike devastated the government building Tuesday morning. One other person died in hospital.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow are set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia.