Russia shells areas in Ukraine where it vowed to scale back

Ukrainian officials say Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine’s capital and another city overnight

KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine's capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places. The shelling further tempered optimism about any progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

Russia did not spell out what exactly it planned to do differently, and while the promise initially raised hopes that a path toward peace was coming into view, Ukraine's president and others cautioned that the remarks could merely be bluster.

Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling hit homes, shops, libraries and other “civilian infrastructure” in the northern city of Chernihiv and on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

The barrages came as Britain's Defense Ministry warned that while heavy losses have forced some Russian units to return to Belarus and Russia, Moscow would likely compensate for any reduction in ground maneuvers by using mass artillery and missile strikes. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said Russian troops were intensifying their attacks around the eastern city of Izyum and the eastern Donetsk region, after redeploying some units from other areas.