Russia Pulls Back From North As Red Cross Pushes Mariupol Rescue
NDTV
Ukraine said Russian forces were concentrating in the east and south, a day after thousands of people from Mariupol and surrounding Russian-held areas escaped in a convoy of buses and private cars.
Ukraine on Saturday said Russian forces were making a "rapid retreat" from northern areas around the capital Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv as the Red Cross prepared for a fresh evacuation effort from the besieged southern port of Mariupol.
Ukraine said Russian forces were concentrating in the east and south, a day after thousands of people from Mariupol and surrounding Russian-held areas escaped in a convoy of buses and private cars.
"Russia is prioritising a different tactic: falling back on the east and south," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said on social media.
He said that while Russian forces appeared to be pulling back from Kyiv and Chernigiv, their aim was to "control a vast stretch of occupied territory and set up there in a powerful way".
