(NewsNation) ⁠— Ukrainian officials said Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and Chernihiv overnight, hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations.

The shelling further tempered optimism about possible progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war. The U.S. and its allies, along with key intelligence, said troop movements are not a scaleback but merely repositioning for a takeover of more Ukrainian territory. 

As the war unleashed five weeks ago by Moscow ground on, so did the fallout beyond Ukraine’s borders. The United Nations said the number of refugees fleeing the country has now surpassed a staggering 4 million.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted with skepticism to Russia’s announcement at talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would reduce military activity near the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv.

“We can call those signals that we hear at the negotiations positive,” he said in his nightly video address to the Ukrainian people. “But those signals don’t silence the explosions of Russian shells.”

That skepticism appeared well placed by Wednesday morning.

The talks in Turkey Tuesday are characterized as the most successful round of peace talks yet. But U.S. officials at the White House, Pentagon, and State Department have all been quick to voice skepticism.

The Pentagon cast doubt Tuesday over Moscow’s suggestions of a military drawdown near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and Chernihiv.

“We believe that this is a repositioning, not a real withdrawal and that we all should be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine,” said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.

Russia’s defense ministry announced it would “fundamentally” scale back military operations in a show of trust toward peace talks with Ukraine. But Kirby warned the U.S. has seen only a “small number” of Russian forces pulling back, saying it’s too early to take Russia seriously, especially as there’s increased Russian activity in the eastern Donbas region.

“Nobody should be fooling ourselves by the Kremlin’s now recent claim that it will suddenly just reduce military attacks near Kyiv,” Kirby said.

In response to Moscow’s pledge, President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they would wait to see what Russia’s actions are.

“I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are. We’ll see if they follow through on what they are suggesting,” Biden said.

“There is what Russia says and what Russia does. We’re focused on the latter,” Bliken said.

Ukraine’s negotiators are clear — there is no path to peace until the bombings stop.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.