Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know as Russia moves troops
Tensions have spiked anew over Ukraine after the United States and its allies said Russia had not drawn down troops as it claimed
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Your support makes all the difference.Tensions spiked anew over Ukraine after the United States and its allies said Russia had not drawn down troops as it claimed.
A day after Moscow had said it was returning troops to bases, the NATO allies said Russia is actually building up border forces near Ukraine. At the same time, separatist authorities in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine are reporting an increase in Ukrainian shelling along a tense line of contact in the east. Ukraine disputes the claim.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to attend a security conference in Munich, where Russia will be the focus, and the U.N. Security Council holds its annual meeting on the agreements that sought the end of war in the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2015.
Here’s a look at what is happening where and why:
WHAT ARE RUSSIAN TROOPS DOING?
NATO allies are accusing Russia of misleading the world by saying it has returned some troops to bases. Instead, they say some 7,000 troops have been added to a tense border with Ukraine.
The British government called Russia’s claim to be withdrawing troops from the border “disinformation,” in line with statements from the United States on Wednesday. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told Sky News that he thought Russia and Ukraine were closer to a conflict on Thursday than at the start of the week.
Maxar Technologies, a commercial satellite imagery company that has been monitoring the Russian buildup, reported continued heightened military activity near Ukraine, including a new pontoon bridge and a new field hospital in Belarus.
Russia has massed an estimated 150,000-plus troops on three sides of Ukraine in recent weeks, though denies it is plotting an invasion. It says that Ukraine and other former Soviet nations to remain out of NATO, halt weapons deployment near Russian borders and rollback from Eastern Europe. The U.S. and its allies have rejected the demands, but have offered to engage in talks on bolstering security in Europe.
WHAT IS HAPPENING ALONG THE UKRAINIAN BORDER?
Separatist authorities in the Luhansk region reported an increase in Ukrainian shelling along the tense line of contact, describing it as a “large-scale provocation.” Separatist official Rodion Miroshnik said that rebel forces have returned the fire.
Ukraine disputed the claim, saying that separatists had shelled its forces, but they didn’t fire back. The Ukrainian military command charged that shells hit a kindergarten building, wounding two civilians, and cut power supply to half of the town.
There are concerns that a flare-up in the east could be used by Russia as a pretext for rolling across the border — though there was no immediate sign that the fighting was more intense than usual.
WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT?
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that “diplomacy has not yet spoken its last word.”
The U.N. Security Council holds its annual meeting to discuss a peace agreement for the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. The meeting is chaired by Russia, which holds the rotating council presidency this month.
Italy’s foreign minister met with his Russian counterpart in Moscow and said moves for a diplomatic solution were continuing, adding “a diplomatic solution means avoiding any kind of sanctions.”
HOW ARE UKRAINIANS REACTING?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that NATO membership is a distant dream for his country, blaming both opposition from Russia and from some unidentified NATO members.
“It is not the Ukrainian people who choose when we will be (in NATO), because it depends not only on us: 30 countries must unanimously agree on this decision,” Zelenskyy said in the Black Sea coast city of Mariupol.
Zelenskyy cited “opposition from Russia, which does not want Ukraine to be a member of NATO, and of some member countries in the alliance. This is no secret.”
He said there are no discussions about holding a referendum in Ukraine about whether to pursue NATO membership.
WHAT IS NATO DOING?
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg opened a meeting of the alliance's defense ministers in Brussels. He said Russia has “yet again demonstrated its disregard for the principles underpinning European security, and its ability and willingness to threaten the use of force in pursuit of its objectives.”
Meanwhile, the alliance is bolstering its eastern regions.
The U.S. has started to deploy 5,000 troops to Poland and Romania. A further 8.500 are on standby. Britain is sending hundreds of soldiers to Poland and offering more warships and planes. It also is doubling the number of personnel in Estonia and sending tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Germany, the Netherlands and Norway are sending additional troops to Lithuania. Denmark and Spain are providing jets for air policing in the Baltic Sea region.
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Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Lorne Cooke in Brussels, Jill Lawless in London, Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed.