Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back military operations in those places to help negotiations along, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.

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A relative mourns n the coffin with the body of 3 year-old Mykola Goryainiv, who died with his parents as they were driving a car trying to evacuate from a fighting zone in Kharkiv region, during a funeral ceremony in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyen

The shelling and intensified Russian attacks on other parts of the country  tempered optimism about any progress in the talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

The Russian military’s announcement Tuesday that it would de-escalate near the capital and Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust” was met with deep suspicion from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the West.

Soon after, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling hit homes, stores, libraries and other civilian sites in and around Chernihiv and on the outskirts of Kyiv. Russian troops also stepped up their attacks around the eastern city of Izyum and the eastern Donetsk region, after redeploying some units from other areas, the Ukrainian side said.