The map is captioned by NYT: "Towns where Ukrainian forces recently reclaimed control"
Three days after Russia said it would reduce its military activity in the north, Russian forces appeared to be in retreat from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv.
...
Videos posted to social media appeared to show abandoned streets in the suburb of Bucha, which had been one of the most contested areas around the capital. And satellite imagery of a key airport in Hostomel by Maxar Technologies, a U.S.-based imaging company, appeared to show that Russian equipment had been removed sometime in the last 10 days.
...
Military analysts said that Russia’s withdrawal from areas near Kyiv, where its troops have sustained losses in an attempt to encircle the city, did not indicate de-escalation in its war effort.
So why the headline? Why everything else up to that last paragraph? The Times, I think, is too careful not to have used "had said" to refer to past claims by analysts. I would take them literally here as saying that notwithstanding the online videos and satellite imagery the Russians are "regrouping", not withdrawing. Obviously that literal take is completely at odds with the headline.
