NATO invites Ukraine for Brussels Summit next week amid war with Russia

Brussels: Ukraine has been invited to join NATO Foreign Ministers` meeting set to take place next week, according to a statement from the military alliance headquartered in Brussels. A meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs will take place at the NATO Headquarters on April 6-7. 

The meeting will be in person and will be chaired by the NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, added the statement.

Some of the Ministers may attend via video link, as per the statement. Since Russia`s war on Ukraine started, this is the second time that a NATO meeting is convened by the FMs of 30 NATO countries. An ‘extraordinary summit` of the alliance was convened on March 24 over the situation in Ukraine.

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

Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant to increase trust in the talks after several rounds of negotiations failed to halt what has devolved into a bloody campaign of attrition. The announcement was met with scepticism from the US and others.

While Russia portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, it comes as the Kremlin's troops have become bogged down in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted President Vladimir Putin's hopes for a quick military victory.

Late last week, and again on Tuesday, Russia seemed to roll back its war aims, saying its ‘main goal’ now is gaining control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had not seen anything indicating talks were progressing in a “constructive way,” and he suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive people and deflect attention.”

Ukraine's military said it has noted withdrawals of some forces around Kyiv and Chernihiv. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN “we haven't seen anything to corroborate” reports of Russia withdrawing significant forces from around Kyiv. 

Rob Lee, a military expert at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweeted, "This sounds like more of an acknowledgement of the situation around Kyiv where Russia's advance has been stalled for weeks and Ukrainian forces have had recent successes. Russia doesn't have the forces to encircle the city.”

Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine met Tuesday in Istanbul, their first face-to-face talks in two weeks. Earlier talks, held in person in Belarus or by video, made no progress toward ending the more than a month-long war that has killed thousands and driven over 10 million Ukrainians from their homes, including almost 4 million who have fled the country.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia`s operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow.