Russia and Ukraine d in peace talks.

Russia announced Tuesday it will “fundamentally" scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as talks to end the grinding war brought the outlines of a possible deal into view.

Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the change on the battlefield was meant to increase trust at the talks after several rounds of negotiations failed to halt what has devolved into a bloody campaign of attrition.

The announcement was met with skepticism from the U.S. and others.

It appears our intel agencies called that one accurately

what i hear is they r still in ongoing peace talks  its just that its not going very well

russians r resorting to kidnapping ukrainian citizens  like the operators of chernobyl plant and in donbas region  possibly to use as leverage in future negotiations

While none of us on this forum would call such a despicable tactic by Putin as "genius"   I can think of at least one person who would.