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What did Russia's border pullback announcement mean for Kyiv?
Summary
A look back at the days around 26 April 2021, when Moscow said it would withdraw forces from the Ukrainian border and Kyiv proposed a front-line meeting.
What was the state of play between Kyiv and Moscow on 26 April 2021? It followed two notable developments in the days before.
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 Donbas, where the two could negotiate an end to the war.
On 22 April 2021, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces would begin moving away from the Ukrainian border the following day. Ukraine and its western allies had accused Russia of trying to provoke conflict by massing troops near the frontier. Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu maintained that the deployment was only for drills.
By 26 April 2021, then, Kyiv had put forward an offer of direct talks in the conflict zone, while Moscow had publicly announced a pullback of troops it described as taking part in exercises. Ukraine and its allies had framed the same build-up as an attempt to provoke conflict.
