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Did Russia really pull back from Ukraine's border?
Summary
A look back at the Russian Defence Ministry's announcement of a troop pullback and the invitation from Kyiv that preceded it.
Was the standoff on Ukraine's border easing? On 22 April 2021, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that it would move its forces away from the Ukrainian border beginning the following day, 23 April.
Ukraine and its western allies had accused Russia of trying to provoke conflict by moving troops to the border. Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu had said the deployment was only meant to conduct drills.
Kyiv's invitation
The day before the announcement, on 21 April 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to a face-to-face meeting on the front line in the war-torn Donbas. The aim, he said, was to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The two developments came within a day of each other, as the dispute over Russian troop movements and the war in Donbas stayed at the centre of Russia–Ukraine relations.
