Russia is not giving up on its offensive in Ukraine, but will try to refocus on completely taking the Donbas region in the coming weeks, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
“We now see a significant movement of (Russian) troops away from Kyiv to regroup, re-arm and re-supply and shift their focus to the east,” Stoltenberg told a news conference.
“In the coming weeks, we expect a further Russian push in eastern and southern Ukraine to try to take the entire Donbas and to create a land bridge to occupied Crimea,” he said on the eve of two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting.
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He added NATO allies will discuss new support measures for Ukraine while Russian troops regroup.
Fighting in the Donbas region has been ongoing for eight years since Russia annexed the Crimea region in 2014.
Last week, Russia announced it would begin to scale back its operations in northern Ukraine and around Kyiv following peace talks in Istanbul.
A view from the building after the attack in Odesa, Ukraine on April 2. Fire broke out due to an explosion caused by Russian rockets in the Port of Odesa.
Andre Luis Alves/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
However, despite the promise, Russian continued its barrage of those areas while redistributing troops to the country’s east.
But over the weekend, Ukrainian forces reentered towns outside of Kyiv and found scores of what appears to be dead civilian bodies. Ukraine alleges Russian troops committed war crimes during its occupation. Russia has rejected those accusations.
At the news conference Tuesday, Stoltenberg said Russia is responsible for the atrocities in Kyiv’s suburbs as its information showed they happened when Russian troops were in control of those areas.
“I’m afraid that we’ll see more – more examples of killings of civilians, more examples of atrocities and more examples of targeted killings of civilians,” he said.
“I think we haven’t seen everything that has taken place because Russia still controls most of these territories. But when and if they withdraw their troops and Ukraine troops take over, I’m afraid they’ll see more mass graves, more atrocities and more examples of war crimes.”
Stoltenberg added NATO allies are providing support to the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to help in war crimes probes.
NATO foreign ministers will meet Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the war, he said.
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