What did Kyiv and Moscow signal by 25 April 2021?
A look back at the border troop standoff and the offer of a front-line meeting in the days before 25 April 2021.
What was the state of play between Kyiv and Moscow on 25 April 2021? Two developments in the preceding days framed it: an announced Russian pullback from the Ukrainian border and an invitation from Ukraine's president to meet his Russian counterpart.
On 21 April 2021, President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a face-to-face meeting on the front line in the war-torn Donbas, to negotiate an end to the conflict.
On 22 April 2021, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that it would move its forces away from the Ukrainian border starting the following day. Ukraine and its western allies had accused Russia of trying to provoke conflict by moving troops to the border. Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu had said the deployment was only to conduct drills.
As an opinion matter, the sequence is worth recalling for its contrast: one side offered direct talks at the contact line, while the other described its military build-up as exercises and then announced a withdrawal. The two accounts of the troop movements, Ukrainian and allied alarm on one side and a training explanation on the other, stood side by side as the month drew to a close.
