Head of the Chernihiv regional city administration Vyacheslav Chaus reported the city and nearby areas were shelled during the night. According to him, residential houses and civilian infrastructure were damaged because of the shelling. On March 29, the Russian Defense Ministry said following the talks in Istanbul it had decided to «drastically reduce» combat activity in the Kiev and Chernihiv directions.
«The enemy demonstrated its »reduced» activity in the Chernihiv region by the strikes on the city of Nizhyn, including air strikes, and by battering the city of Chernihiv all night long,» Chaus said.
Vadim Denisenko, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, also reported combat activity was not reduced in the vicinity of Kiev either. According to him, fighting went on all night in the Kiev region near Irpen.
«Therefore, so far we can't say the Russians are reducing the intensity of hostilities in the Kiev and Chernihiv directions,» Denisenko said.
On March 29, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said after the meeting in Istanbul that Russia was taking «two steps forward to de-escalate the conflict.» On the same day, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the main objectives of the «special military operation» had been met, which allowed the Russian military to focus on the main goal, the liberation of Donbass. Kremlin supporters took the news of the withdrawal of troops from Kiev with indignation, while political analysts and military experts said there was no reason to trust Shoigu's words and called them a political maneuver.