The news of Russia pulling back some troops from its border with Ukraine has been met with skepticism thus far, but has at least allowed both nations to declare a victory of sorts in the simmering conflict. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dymytro Kuleba said "we have managed together with our partners to deter Russia from any further escalation,” while a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said that Tuesday "will go into history as the day western war propaganda failed. They have been disgraced and destroyed without a single shot being fired."
How seriously we can take that last statement remains to be seen, as Russia is notorious for sending out various mixed messages before it makes an attack in order to make its actions less predictable.
