Ukraine Reclaims 15 Settlements Near Kyiv: Military Chiefs

Ukrainian military chiefs said Friday morning that its forces had liberated 15 settlements in the Kyiv region, as a fresh round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia resumed via video.

In an update on social media, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said its units had restored control over the settlements of Demydiv, Dymer, Lytvynivka, Gavrylivka, Kozarovychi, Zhovtneve, Hlybivka, Yasnohorodka, Talakun, Sukoluchchya, Lypivka, Gavronshchyna, Makovyshche, Mykolaivka, Khmilna, in Ukraine's Kyiv Oblast.

"The thirty-seventh day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the Russian military invasion continues," the post read. "The Russian Federation continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine."

The update came as Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Friday that Russian troops were beginning to fall back amid resistance from Ukrainian forces northeast and northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

In an assessment on Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that Russia is likely "repositioning a small percentage of the troops and the battalion tactical groups that Russia had arrayed against Kyiv."

A day earlier, Russia said it would significantly scale back military operations near the capital.

Kirby told reporters that about 20 percent of Russian forces had started to move away from Kyiv. He noted that none of Russia's forces appear to be returning "to their home garrison."

"Some of those troops we assess are repositioning into Belarus. We don't have an exact number for you, but that's our early assessments," the Pentagon press secretary said during a news briefing.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin "is serious about de-escalating," then Moscow should "send them (troops) home."

"But they're not doing that, at least not yet. So that's not what we're seeing," Kirby added.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

Moscow decided to "fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv" to "increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations" amid ongoing negotiations between Ukraine and Russia," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Moscow suggested that a purported air strike by Ukraine against a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod on Friday could impact future negotiations.

"Of course, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of negotiations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

It marks the first accusation of a Ukrainian air strike on Russian soil since the start of Putin's invasion on February 24, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Friday that he couldn't comment on Ukraine's alleged involvement in the strike due to a lack of information.

"I can neither confirm nor reject the claim that Ukraine was involved in this simply because I do not possess all the military information," he said, when pressed on the issue.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said on Friday that a new round of talks with Russia began via video link.