"No-one should be fooled" by Russia's pulling back of troops around Kyiv- White House
The White House has warned its allies that: “No-one should be fooled by Russia’s announcements” about reducing its military presence around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. and that it was important to be “clear-eyed about the reality of what is happening on the ground”, Agence France-Presse reports.
Any movement of Russian forces around Kyiv is a “redeployment and not a withdrawal,” White House director of communications Kate Bedingfield said in Washington at a briefing moments ago.
The comments echoed those coming from the Pentagon just prior, warning that Kyiv “remains under threat”.
"We’re seeing a small number now that appears to be moving away from Kyiv, this on the same day that the Russians say they’re withdrawing,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said just earlier.
“But we’re not prepared to call this a retreat or even a withdrawal. We think that what they probably have in mind is a repositioning to prioritize elsewhere.”
“We all should be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine. It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over.
“Russia has failed in its objective of capturing Kiev,” the Pentagon spokesman said, but “they can still inflict massive brutality on the country including on Kyiv.”
That does sound more like the Russia we know and hate. Putin's really just going to go quietly?
