Russia announces pullback from Ukraine's border after troop build-up
A look back at the Russian Defence Ministry's announcement on 22 April 2021, a day after Kyiv proposed a front-line meeting.
What did Moscow say about its troops near Ukraine on 22 April 2021? The Russian Defence Ministry announced that it would begin moving its forces away from the Ukrainian border the following day, 23 April.
The announcement followed weeks in which Ukraine and its western allies had accused Russia of trying to provoke conflict by moving troops to the border. Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu had maintained that the deployment was only to conduct drills.
The statement came a day after Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to a face-to-face meeting on the front line in the war-torn Donbas. The aim of the proposed meeting, as reported on 21 April, was to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The two developments, the invitation on 21 April and the announced withdrawal on 22 April, marked the diplomatic backdrop to the Russia–Ukraine relationship on those days.
