The first Russian troops who had left northern Ukraine had begun to arrive in the northern Donbas area of eastern Ukraine:

A senior US defence source said Thursday that the first Russian troops who had left northern Ukraine had begun to arrive in the northern Donbas area of eastern Ukraine. In preparation for what is likely to be a massive assault by thousands of Russian forces.

On Thursday, the official told reporters, “They already have a large quantity of forces in the region”. “We estimate that there are 65 total active BTGs throughout Ukraine”. And the majority of the 65 are concentrated in Ukraine’s east and south. Outside of southern and eastern Ukraine, there are no BTG operations… Over the next several days, they’ll try to introduce more BTGs. We really haven’t seen that in the last few years”.

According to the official, these are some of the forces that had just departed northern Ukraine and the territories north of Kyiv to return to Russia and Belarus. For resupply and reinforcement before heading to Donbas.