LVIV, Ukraine — Russian negotiators Tuesday offered to pull back attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in a step toward ending the war between the two nations, but U.S. and Western officials remained skeptical of Moscow’s true intentions.
The offer came as Russian and Ukrainian officials held a new round of talks and Ukrainian forces continued to mount fierce resistance in northern parts of the country against a relentless campaign of Russian shelling and missile attacks that have destroyed residential neighborhoods, hospitals and fuel storage depots.
But rather than ending the war, it seemed more likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin was merely shifting focus to the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, where his forces have moved deeper into the separatist Donbas region and battered the coastal town of Mariupol.
