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Putler recalibrates after getting assraped...
Russia signals scaled-back war aims as Ukrainians advance near Kyiv
BUCHA/LVIV, Ukraine, March 25 (Reuters) - Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive to recapture towns on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.
In the first big sign that Western sanctions on Moscow were impacting investment from China, sources said state-run Sinopec Group, Asia's biggest oil refiner, halted talks on a petrochemical investment and a venture to market Russian gas. read more
In the month since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops have failed to capture any major city. Their assault has met stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces and has been halted outside Kyiv.
The Russians have instead been bombarding and encircling cities, laying waste to residential areas and driving around a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes.
More than 3.7 million of them have fled abroad, half to neighbouring Poland. U.S. President Joe Biden travelled to Poland on Friday, meeting soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division bolstering NATO's eastern flank and getting a look at efforts to help refugees.
Battlelines near Kyiv have been frozen for weeks with two main Russian armoured columns stuck northwest and east of the capital. A British intelligence report described a Ukrainian counter-offensive that had pushed Russians back in the east.
"Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, have allowed Ukraine to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 km east of Kyiv," the report said. Britain has given Ukraine arms and military training.
In an announcement that appeared to indicate more limited goals, the Russian Defence Ministry said a first phase of its operation was mostly complete and it would now focus on "liberating" the breakaway eastern Donbass region. read more
"The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which ... makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbass," said Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate.
A senior diplomatic source in Moscow described the announcement as a possible prelude to a climbdown.
"Their war aims are/were much wider than Donbass, leaving their force divided with poorly coordinated attacks on multiple fronts by unprepared troops," the source said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ukr...nd-2022-03-25/
