Putin pulls units out of Ukraine to defend Russia, Kyiv says

The Kremlin initially attacked the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of southern Ukraine in the first days of Putin’s full-scale invasion in early 2022. POLITICO was unable to independently confirm how many Russian troops have been redeployed back across the border, though Lykhoviy said it was a “relatively small” number of units.

To try to counter Ukrainian gains, Russian troops have, however, continued their offensive on Pokrovsk and elsewhere in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army, in one of the hottest spots on the war front where Russia is gaining ground.

But Lykhoviy added on Ukrainian TV that Russia has been relocating personnel to “other directions, including to Kursk.”

Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said that Russian troops have been spotted leaving Kaliningrad, too, according to to a video posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Facebook page.

In a tense meeting in Russia on Monday, local authorities described to an irritated Putin how Ukrainian forces had overrun meager defenses in the south starting last week, sparking mass evacuations of nearly 200,000 people.

As Ukraine captured territory, Russian commanders initially played down the assault, insisting the military had things under control. But more than a week later, Ukraine now controls at least 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory.