Nato Says Russia is bringing up more troops near Ukraine

 The combined force of Russian military and pro-Russian separatist forces near the borders is about a hundred and forty,000, Ukraine says.

the us and Nato stated Russia became nevertheless building up troops round Ukraine on Wednesday no matter Moscow's insistence it turned into pulling again, thinking President Vladimir Putin's stated desire to barter a method to the crisis.

In Ukraine, in which people raised flags and performed the countrywide anthem to show solidarity against fears of an invasion, the government stated a cyber attack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind that the u . s . a . had visible. It pointed the finger towards Russia, which denied involvement.

The Russian defence ministry said its forces had been pulling again after exercises in southern and western military districts near Ukraine - a part of a massive construct-up that changed into observed by means of needs for sweeping security guarantees from the West.

It posted video that it said showed tanks, infantry combating vehicles and self-propelled artillery devices leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

but US Secretary of nation Antony Blinken said key Russian units have been transferring in the direction of the border, no longer away.

"there may be what Russia says. and then there is what Russia does. And we have not seen any pullback of its forces," Blinken said in an interview on MSNBC. "We continue to see crucial devices transferring in the direction of the border, now not far from the border."

A senior Western intelligence official stated the threat of Russian aggression towards Ukraine could continue to be excessive for the relaxation of February and Russia ought to still attack Ukraine "with essentially no, or little-to-no, warning".

Nato Secretary-widespread Jens Stoltenberg said transferring troops and tanks from side to side did not quantity to evidence of a pullout.

"we have now not seen any withdrawal of Russian forces. And of course, that contradicts the message of diplomatic efforts," Stoltenberg stated earlier than a meeting of the alliance in Brussels. "What we see is that they have got expanded the range of troops and extra troops are on their manner. So, to this point, no de-escalation."

Stoltenberg later said Nato may want to prove Russia's failure to tug lower back its troops with satellite photos

Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters in an interview his united states of america's modern-day intelligence report in addition confirmed no signal of a Russian pullback. He said the mixed electricity of Russian military and pro-Russian separatist forces close to Ukraine's borders stood at about 140,000.

The Kremlin said Nato's assessment become wrong. Moscow's ambassador to eire stated forces in western Russia could be returned to their regular positions inside three to four weeks.