From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavarnici. This is the Daily.

Today, as Russia tries to reset its war in Ukraine, one city has become central to Moscow's strategy.

My colleague, Valerie Hopkins, on what's happening inside Mary Ople, and what the fight there tells us about the White Erwar.

It's Friday, April 1st.

Valerie, this is a pretty dizzying week of news out of Ukraine. Catch me up on what happened.

So, over the past week, we saw a series of moves by the Russians that sent pretty mixed signals.

First, about a week ago, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced that they were shifting their strategy.

They said that the first phase of the war was over, that they were going to be reducing their combat in the West, while consolidating their military gains in the East.

But at the same time that they said that, they started sending missiles to the West, and they continued their assault on Kiev.

So, it was pretty unclear if they would stick to their word.

And then, in the middle of the week, we saw another round of talks between the Russians and the Ukrainians, where it kind of looked for a minute like some kind of deal could happen.

But then the Russians actually came out and said they were a very long way from the agreement, and they would just continue their campaign.

Okay, so it sounds like things on the ground are in flux, at least when it comes to territory.

But the bombings and the fighting are continuing.

So, what's the upshot here? Are the Russians losing?

Well, I mean, the Russians have been losing territory around Kiev.

They say that they're sort of preparing to withdraw from that area.

But NATO officials have pretty much concluded that they're actually regrouping rather than retreating.

You know, there's just so much skepticism from Western officials.

The bottom line is they say they're watching what Russia does rather than what it says.

So, Valerie, you've been in Ukraine now since the war began.

You've been covering it every day. I'm wondering what you're focusing on now.

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