Troop pullback and a front-line invitation, April 2021

Was the standoff on Ukraine's border easing on 23 April 2021? That was the date on which, according to the Russian Defense Ministry's announcement of 22 April, Russian forces were to begin moving away from the frontier.

The announcement followed accusations from Ukraine and its western allies that Russia had moved troops to the border in order to provoke conflict. Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu had countered that the deployment was only for drills. The pullback was therefore presented by Moscow as the end of an exercise, not as a concession.

On 21 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had made a separate move, inviting 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 steps were distinct: one was a military announcement, the other a diplomatic proposal. Set side by side, they showed Kyiv seeking direct talks while Moscow described its troop movements in purely military terms. The announced withdrawal was due to start on 23 April 2021.