Russian forces struck Chernihiv 'all night long' hours after vowing to scale down attacks, governor says

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Russian forces struck Chernihiv 'all night long' hours after vowing to scale down attacks, governor says
A view of a residential building damaged by shelling, in Chernihiv, Ukraine.(AP Photo/Yuriy Vasilenko
  • Russia on Tuesday pledged to reduce assaults on the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv.
  • But the Chernihiv regional governor said Russia hit the city "all night long."
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The governor of Ukraine's Chernihiv region said Russian forces hit the city of Chernihiv "all night long" despite pledging hours earlier to wind down attacks.

Alexander Fomin, Russia's deputy defense minister, told reporters on Tuesday that the armed forces would "drastically reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv direction." He said the decision was made to help with peace negotiations.

But Viacheslav Chaus, the governor of the Chernihiv region, said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that this didn't happen.

He posted, "The 'decreased activity' in the Chernihiv region was demonstrated by the enemy carrying out strikes on Nizhyn, including air strikes, and all night long they hit Chernihiv," Reuters reported. Nizhyn is another city in the Chernihiv region.

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday that the promise to scale back attacks was likely one that "aims to mislead," and that Russia was likely just doing a troop rotation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said his citizens were "not naive people," and that "only a concrete result can be trusted."

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The Pentagon also said it was skeptical of Russia's promise to reduce attacks on Kyiv.

Russia had been trying and struggling to capture Kyiv for weeks.

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