As the war entered its sixth week, Zelensky dismissed Russia’s claims that it was drawing down its forces in the north — where local officials near Chernihiv and the capital of Kyiv have reported days of intense shelling — as “verbal constructions.”

Russian troops are not conducting a withdrawal but facing “the consequences of exile” at the hands of Ukrainian fighters, he said. “Yes, there is an ongoing negotiation process. But these are still words.”

In the east, Ukrainian military leaders said they were preparing for an all-out assault by Russian forces.

“We clearly feel that the transfer of [military] technology in our direction is beginning now,” Serhiy Haidai, the head of the regional military administration in Luhansk, said on Ukrainian television. “And as the equipment and personnel are being turned over, our enemies are simply firing more densely, powerfully.