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Russia announces pullback from Ukraine's border
Summary
A look back at the Russian Defence Ministry's announcement on 22 April 2021, a day after Zelensky's invitation to Putin.
What did Moscow say about its troops on the Ukrainian border on 22 April 2021? The Russian Defence Ministry announced that it would begin moving its forces away from the frontier 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 to conduct drills.
A meeting proposed a day earlier
On 21 April 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had 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 on consecutive days: an invitation to talks in Donbas, followed by a Russian announcement that its forces would start to leave the border area.
