Thousands of people hold a rally in support of the Ukrainian government in Kyiv as tensions mount over Russian invasion fears.

Thousands march in Kyiv in a show of support to the Ukrainian government amid Russian invasion fears

During the last few weeks, the West has been urging Russia to choose the path of diplomacy and not weapons, but since the US said that Russia is just days away from invading Ukraine, the threat has now come too close to home for NATO.

The UK raises alarm over Poland's security

US, British and Norweigan nationals have been asked to leave Ukraine as war tensions with Russia mount over the Ukraine crisis. Meanwhile, the UK has urged Russia to step back from conflict.

Efforts at shuttle diplomacy by the the West continues amid Russian invasion fears

British and Norweigan nationals have been asked to leave Ukraine as war tensions with Russia mount over the Ukraine crisis. Meanwhile, the UK has urged Russia to step back from conflict.

British nationals urged to leave Ukraine amid the second round of UK-Russia diplomacy bid

Ukrainian and Russian officials met in the German capital for talks on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine but nearly nine hours of talks failed to produce a breakthrough on signing a joint document. However, both sides have agreed to keep talks with French and German officials aimed at ending an eight-year separators conflict in eastern Ukraine but the lack of progress marked a setback for efforts to defuse the crisis. For more insights on this, we are joined by WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma live from Ukraine.

British PM Boris Johnson warns of 'Bloodshed' as diplomacy deadlock on Ukraine conflict continues

In 1990, NATO promised to never enter Russia's sphere of influence in eastern Europe. Since then, the alliance has expanded to include 14 European nations, including Russia's neighbours. Palki Sharma tells you about NATO's betrayal.

Gravitas Ukraine Direct: Did NATO betray Russia?

Russia and Belarus have kicked off a massive military drill along Ukraine's northern border. NATO believes the drills could be a pretext for Russia to invade Ukraine. Amid military drills and manoeuvres, is the window for diplomacy shrinking? Palki Sharma tells you.

Gravitas Ukraine Direct: Russia-Belarus joint drills kick off

Ukrainian and Russian officials met in the German capital for talks on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine but nearly nine hours of talks failed to produce a breakthrough on signing a joint document. However, both sides have agreed to keep talks with French and German officials aimed at ending an eight-year separators conflict in eastern Ukraine but the lack of progress marked a setback for efforts to defuse the crisis.

Berlin talks fail to yield any breakthrough in defusing Ukraine conflict with Russia

The United States has asked the Americans living in Ukraine to leave the country as tensions mount over the Ukraine crisis. The diplomacy deadlock on the Ukraine conflict continues.

The US urges Americans in Ukraine to leave as diplomacy deadlock on Ukraine conflict continues

NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Brussels amid Russia-Ukraine conflict. The leaders have called the situation the most dangerous moment in European security. Palki Sharma tells you more.

UK: Russia is actively threatening a sovereign nation

During a press conference on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and PM Boris Johnson warned Russia, saying NATO is deploying more forces to its eastern member states and that Russia's behaviour would not deter them. NATO is ready to engage with Russia on de-escalation and arms control, said both leaders.

Ukraine Crisis: PM Johnson, NATO Chief refer Russian build up as 'dangerous moment'

The drumbeats of war are getting louder things may be calm in Ukraine right now but the country is surrounded by troops and military exercises. American troops are settling into Poland their humvees and weapons have arrived, the NATO is looking to make it permanent as the alliance is considering long-term deployments of troops in eastern Europe.

Russia-Ukraine crisis: US soldiers, humvee arrive in Poland; NATO considering long-term deployment

Vladimir Putin has hinted at a nuclear response if NATO attacks Russia. But can the Russian economy sustain a war? Has Putin calibrated his economy to fund conflicts? Palki Sharma tells you.

Gravitas Ukraine Direct: Putin hints at nuclear response if NATO attacks

Germany is leading a NATO operation in Lithuania and has stationed around 500 soldiers there. Also, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz has offered a clarification on why Germany is not supplying weapons to the Ukraine.

Germany leads NATO operation in Lithuania, sends troops

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. US has warned Ukraine of a false flag attack. Turkey has proposed to host a Russia, Ukraine summit. Palki Sharma brings you the latest on Ukraine crisis direct from Kyiv.

Gravitas: Ukraine, Russia crisis: Putin, Xi send joint message to NATO

U.S. has deployed troops to Eastern Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has broken his silence on the Ukraine crisis. Neither Russia, nor the West is ready to blink yet. Where is this stalemate headed? Listen in to Palki Sharma.

Gravitas: US deploys troops to Eastern Europe, Putin breaks his silence

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the West has ignored Moscow's key security requests amid tensions over Ukraine's possible membership in NATO.

NATO yet to adequately address Russia's security demands, says Vladimir Putin

The US plans to deploy 3000 additional troops to fortify NATO forces in eastern Europe. this comes amidst fears that Russia could invade Ukraine.

US plans to deploy additional troops to fortify NATO forces

For several days now NATO has been trying to put up some kind of a united front but the question of course is how united is the NATO's military alliance exactly. There are cracks that are beginning to be very visible in the alliance as tensions continue to escalate along the eastern border with Ukraine, however, in focus particularly are the NATO members Poland and Hungary.

NATO's united front cracking under pressure? How united is NATO's military alliance?

The soldiers live in dugout bunkers, and cook all their own meals. They dry their wet socks on clotheslines underground. Many of their weapons are remnants of the Soviet era, half a century old.

In the icy trenches of eastern Ukraine, where government troops are fighting Russian-backed separatists, one of the critical issues in the standoff between Russia and the West — should Ukraine be allowed to join NATO? — seems hardly pressing or even relevant: Little about the day-to-day activities of Ukrainian soldiers suggests the kind of sophisticated, contemporary military that distinguishes NATO members.

“You dig a hole, then you sleep in that damned hole,” said Pvt. Yuri Todorchuk, who is 53, summing up service in the Ukrainian army in the east. “Even younger men have sore backs” from all the digging, he said.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has massed about 130,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, stoking fears of an imminent invasion by an upgraded and lethal Russian fighting force. And he has insisted to the United States and Western Europe that Ukraine must never be allowed to join NATO, a demand the West has rejected.

But several days of observation at the front lines last week showed the grinding, relatively low-tech tactics of the Ukrainian army. Hard-pressed for soldiers, the military now admits enlisted men up to age 57 on three-year contracts. It has been reforming and re-arming but remains almost wholly focused on the manpower-intensive trench fighting in the east, a decidedly old-fashioned form of war.

The eight men in one small unit, Lima squad, part of a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, arrived at their position in June and set about digging, soldiers said.

They burrowed out their underground homes — two sleeping quarters, each with four bunks; a subterranean kitchen; and a room for steam baths — and have lived in these cavelike spaces since.

Above ground, plastic sheeting claps in a freezing wind. With separatist trenches close by, in a tree line across a snowy field, the only truly safe place is underground.

Nothing about the unit suggests a connection to NATO other than the name, Lima, which is the NATO phonetic alphabet designation for the letter L. Under an overhaul as part of Ukraine’s aspiration to join the alliance, military units were renamed according to NATO standards.

The conflict is fought mostly with rifles, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, mortars and artillery systems dating to the 1970s or earlier. The United States has sold Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine since 2018, but they are intended mainly to repel a broad Russian attack, not for use on the front. Turkey provides another of the country’s newer weapons, the Bayraktar TB2 armed drone, but the Ukrainian military has acknowledged using it only once in combat, last October.

Still, military analysts say the force is in far better shape than in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and fomented the war in the east. The United States has provided $2.7 billion in military assistance in the years since. In recent weeks, it authorized Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, and Britain has provided guided anti-tank missiles.

And the Ukrainian army is battle hardened. About 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including about 13,000 women, have gone through rotations along the eastern front, providing a pool of veteran fighters who might be called up in the event of war. On Tuesday President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an order declaring his intention to add 100,000 troops to Ukraine’s military over three years, and increase soldiers’ pay.

But multiple rotations have also taken a heavy toll, soldiers in this position, who range in age from 25 to 59, said. Pvt. Volodymyr Murdza, 53, is halfway through his second three-year contract. His son is also serving in the war and his wife worries terribly, he said. “She calls and says, ‘I worry because you don’t call me,’” Murdza said. “And I say, ‘Dearest, sunshine, I call whenever I can.’”

The closeness of the lines is a continual source of unease, Murdza said. Just two days earlier, a soldier from another unit serving in a position 100 or so yards away was wounded from shrapnel from a mortar, after the Russian-backed separatists apparently ascertained its location.

So, in the pre-dawn, three soldiers in Lima squad awoke for an operation to prevent a similar setback in their small maze of trenches.

The orders were to fire a heavy machine gun from a position where it is not typically stationed. The soldiers described opening up with the gun as a routine necessity, to mislead the other side about the location of their positions, and prevent an attack. Neither side observed repeated political announcements of cease-fires. The most recent cease-fire announcement came last week, after diplomatic talks between Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine in Paris.

“Are you ready?” one of the soldiers asked, pulling back a lever to load the gun. “It’s happening now.” It was 3 a.m.

With that, a small, log-framed dugout filled with the roar of the 50-calber machine gun, muzzle flashes and acrid smoke. A few bursts of a dozen or so bullets each were fired.

In the distance, across the pitch-black, fallow farm field that separates the two sides, answering volleys rang out. But the shots went wide, flying overhead dozens of yards from the Ukrainian dugout. A radio crackled. Then it was silent again, except for the crunch of Ukrainian soldiers’ footsteps in the snow as they returned to their usual position.

The level of violence has ebbed and flowed over the eight years of war in eastern Ukraine, but it has mostly been a low-intensity conflict.

Deployments that last six to eight months are hard, but so are leaves at home, said Pvt. Roman Leskiv, 30, the commander of Lima squad, who has been serving in the east since the war started.

“It feels stifling; people don’t understand me,” said Leskiv, explaining that after so many years at the front he has trouble assimilating to life away from it. “Vacation is the hardest part of the year for me.”

But seeing only the faces of the same half-dozen other men, for months on end, also grates on his nerves.

A few years ago, he married a nurse who had treated him in hospital after a shrapnel wound, but they divorced.

“She asked, ‘When will you come home?’” said Leskiv, sitting by the wood fire in the unit’s kitchen, running a hand over a scar on his scalp underneath his buzz-cut hair. “And I said, ‘Soon, soon, soon.’ But soon never happened.”

Dr. Oleksandr Astrakhantsev, the doctor assigned to the larger unit that Lima squad reports to, treats battle wounds, mostly from shrapnel, but also everyday ailments of men in their 50s living in rough circumstances. “In these conditions, any problem becomes more acute,” from stress to lack of sleep, he said.

Psychological difficulties also arise. “When you see the same faces every day, and every day nothing changes, it can get you down,” Astrakhantsev said. Soldiers recede into themselves, stop talking.

“We used to call it Afghan syndrome,” he said. “Everybody out here has it. Even if a soldier goes home, a part of him stays out here in the east.” 
&nbsp;

The soldiers live in dugout bunkers, and cook all their own meals. They dry their wet socks on clotheslines underground. Many of their weapons are remnants of the Soviet era, half a century old.

The soldiers live in dugout bunkers, and cook all their own meals. They dry their wet socks on clotheslines underground. Many of their weapons are remnants of the Soviet era, half a century old. In the icy trenches of eastern Ukraine, where government troops are fighting Russian-backed separatists, one of the critical issues in the standoff between Russia and the West — should Ukraine be allowed to join NATO? — seems hardly pressing or even relevant: Little about the day-to-day activities of Ukrainian soldiers suggests the kind of sophisticated, contemporary military that distinguishes NATO members. “You dig a hole, then you sleep in that damned hole,” said Pvt. Yuri Todorchuk, who is 53, summing up service in the Ukrainian army in the east. “Even younger men have sore backs” from all the digging, he said. President Vladimir Putin of Russia has massed about 130,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, stoking fears of an imminent invasion by an upgraded and lethal Russian fighting force. And he has insisted to the United States and Western Europe that Ukraine must never be allowed to join NATO, a demand the West has rejected. But several days of observation at the front lines last week showed the grinding, relatively low-tech tactics of the Ukrainian army. Hard-pressed for soldiers, the military now admits enlisted men up to age 57 on three-year contracts. It has been reforming and re-arming but remains almost wholly focused on the manpower-intensive trench fighting in the east, a decidedly old-fashioned form of war. The eight men in one small unit, Lima squad, part of a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, arrived at their position in June and set about digging, soldiers said. They burrowed out their underground homes — two sleeping quarters, each with four bunks; a subterranean kitchen; and a room for steam baths — and have lived in these cavelike spaces since. Above ground, plastic sheeting claps in a freezing wind. With separatist trenches close by, in a tree line across a snowy field, the only truly safe place is underground. Nothing about the unit suggests a connection to NATO other than the name, Lima, which is the NATO phonetic alphabet designation for the letter L. Under an overhaul as part of Ukraine’s aspiration to join the alliance, military units were renamed according to NATO standards. The conflict is fought mostly with rifles, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, mortars and artillery systems dating to the 1970s or earlier. The United States has sold Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine since 2018, but they are intended mainly to repel a broad Russian attack, not for use on the front. Turkey provides another of the country’s newer weapons, the Bayraktar TB2 armed drone, but the Ukrainian military has acknowledged using it only once in combat, last October. Still, military analysts say the force is in far better shape than in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and fomented the war in the east. The United States has provided $2.7 billion in military assistance in the years since. In recent weeks, it authorized Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, and Britain has provided guided anti-tank missiles. And the Ukrainian army is battle hardened. About 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including about 13,000 women, have gone through rotations along the eastern front, providing a pool of veteran fighters who might be called up in the event of war. On Tuesday President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an order declaring his intention to add 100,000 troops to Ukraine’s military over three years, and increase soldiers’ pay. But multiple rotations have also taken a heavy toll, soldiers in this position, who range in age from 25 to 59, said. Pvt. Volodymyr Murdza, 53, is halfway through his second three-year contract. His son is also serving in the war and his wife worries terribly, he said. “She calls and says, ‘I worry because you don’t call me,’” Murdza said. “And I say, ‘Dearest, sunshine, I call whenever I can.’” The closeness of the lines is a continual source of unease, Murdza said. Just two days earlier, a soldier from another unit serving in a position 100 or so yards away was wounded from shrapnel from a mortar, after the Russian-backed separatists apparently ascertained its location. So, in the pre-dawn, three soldiers in Lima squad awoke for an operation to prevent a similar setback in their small maze of trenches. The orders were to fire a heavy machine gun from a position where it is not typically stationed. The soldiers described opening up with the gun as a routine necessity, to mislead the other side about the location of their positions, and prevent an attack. Neither side observed repeated political announcements of cease-fires. The most recent cease-fire announcement came last week, after diplomatic talks between Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine in Paris. “Are you ready?” one of the soldiers asked, pulling back a lever to load the gun. “It’s happening now.” It was 3 a.m. With that, a small, log-framed dugout filled with the roar of the 50-calber machine gun, muzzle flashes and acrid smoke. A few bursts of a dozen or so bullets each were fired. In the distance, across the pitch-black, fallow farm field that separates the two sides, answering volleys rang out. But the shots went wide, flying overhead dozens of yards from the Ukrainian dugout. A radio crackled. Then it was silent again, except for the crunch of Ukrainian soldiers’ footsteps in the snow as they returned to their usual position. The level of violence has ebbed and flowed over the eight years of war in eastern Ukraine, but it has mostly been a low-intensity conflict. Deployments that last six to eight months are hard, but so are leaves at home, said Pvt. Roman Leskiv, 30, the commander of Lima squad, who has been serving in the east since the war started. “It feels stifling; people don’t understand me,” said Leskiv, explaining that after so many years at the front he has trouble assimilating to life away from it. “Vacation is the hardest part of the year for me.” But seeing only the faces of the same half-dozen other men, for months on end, also grates on his nerves. A few years ago, he married a nurse who had treated him in hospital after a shrapnel wound, but they divorced. “She asked, ‘When will you come home?’” said Leskiv, sitting by the wood fire in the unit’s kitchen, running a hand over a scar on his scalp underneath his buzz-cut hair. “And I said, ‘Soon, soon, soon.’ But soon never happened.” Dr. Oleksandr Astrakhantsev, the doctor assigned to the larger unit that Lima squad reports to, treats battle wounds, mostly from shrapnel, but also everyday ailments of men in their 50s living in rough circumstances. “In these conditions, any problem becomes more acute,” from stress to lack of sleep, he said. Psychological difficulties also arise. “When you see the same faces every day, and every day nothing changes, it can get you down,” Astrakhantsev said. Soldiers recede into themselves, stop talking. “We used to call it Afghan syndrome,” he said. “Everybody out here has it. Even if a soldier goes home, a part of him stays out here in the east.”

With low-tech, trench warfare, Ukraine's army isn’t NATO caliber

Amid Russian deployment near its borders Ukraine has been on the tenterhooks and this former Soviet nation is aware that alone it holds no chance against Russia which is why it is cozying up with the NATO but at a time when Russian troops and their allies have surrounded Ukraine, NATO has made a startling comment.

NATO: No troops will be deployed in Ukraine if Russia invades

As tensions on the Russian Ukraine border continue to simmer, the united West has imposed stringent sanctions on Moscow.

West & US warn of penalties & sanctions against Russia amid invasion fears

Tensions are at an all-time high between Russia and Ukraine. Over 100,000 Russian soldiers have been amassed along Ukraine's Eastern border.

West & Russia amp up troop deployment as war tensions at an all-time high

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on &nbsp;Saturday (January 29) that Britain is preparing to offer NATO a "major" deployment of troops, weapons, warships and jets in Europe amid the Russia-Ukraine border crisis.&nbsp;

Johnson said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin chose "bloodshed and destruction" in Ukraine, it would be "a tragedy for Europe". He further said that "Ukraine must be free to choose its own future".&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-moves-blood-supplies-near-ukraine-adding-to-us-concern-officials-say-448801">Russia moves blood supplies near Ukraine, adding to US concern, officials say</a>

The formal announcement is set to be made to NATO military chiefs next week. The move means Britain could double approximately 1,150 UK troops, currently in eastern European countries as UK PM Johnson said the deployment would send a "clear message to the Kremlin".&nbsp;

Johnson said in a statement late Saturday, "This package would send a clear message to the Kremlin -- we will not tolerate their destabilising activity, and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face Russian hostility."&nbsp;

"I have ordered our Armed Forces to prepare to deploy across Europe next week, ensuring we are able to support our NATO allies on land, at sea and in the air," he added.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amid-ongoing-ukraine-crisis-russian-troops-arrive-in-belarus-for-military-drills-448750">Amid ongoing Ukraine crisis, Russian troops arrive in Belarus for military drills</a>

On the other hand, Kyiv on Saturday has urged the West to remain "vigilant and firm" in its talks with Russia.&nbsp;

In a conversation with French counterpart Yves Le Drian, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday weighed in on de-escalation efforts. Kuleba urged the West to remain "vigilant and firm in contacts with the Russian side"&nbsp;

As per the statement, the talks between the two highlighted the need to "refrain from steps that could fuel anxiety" in Ukrainian society. Also, the need to "undermine the financial stability".&nbsp;

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged his Western partners to avoid stirring "panic" over the massive Russian troop buildup.&nbsp;

ALSO WATCH |&nbsp;Sanctions imposed on Moscow as tensions on Russia-Ukraine border continue to simmer

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The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday (January 29) that Britain is preparing to offer NATO a "major" deployment of troops, weapons, warships and jets in Europe amid the Russia-Ukraine border crisis.

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday (January 29) that Britain is preparing to offer NATO a "major" deployment of troops, weapons, warships and jets in Europe amid the Russia-Ukraine border crisis. Johnson said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin chose "bloodshed and destruction" in Ukraine, it would be "a tragedy for Europe". He further said that "Ukraine must be free to choose its own future". ALSO READ | Russia moves blood supplies near Ukraine, adding to US concern, officials say The formal announcement is set to be made to NATO military chiefs next week. The move means Britain could double approximately 1,150 UK troops, currently in eastern European countries as UK PM Johnson said the deployment would send a "clear message to the Kremlin". Johnson said in a statement late Saturday, "This package would send a clear message to the Kremlin -- we will not tolerate their destabilising activity, and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face Russian hostility." "I have ordered our Armed Forces to prepare to deploy across Europe next week, ensuring we are able to support our NATO allies on land, at sea and in the air," he added. ALSO READ | Amid ongoing Ukraine crisis, Russian troops arrive in Belarus for military drills On the other hand, Kyiv on Saturday has urged the West to remain "vigilant and firm" in its talks with Russia. In a conversation with French counterpart Yves Le Drian, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday weighed in on de-escalation efforts. Kuleba urged the West to remain "vigilant and firm in contacts with the Russian side" As per the statement, the talks between the two highlighted the need to "refrain from steps that could fuel anxiety" in Ukrainian society. Also, the need to "undermine the financial stability". On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged his Western partners to avoid stirring "panic" over the massive Russian troop buildup. ALSO WATCH | Sanctions imposed on Moscow as tensions on Russia-Ukraine border continue to simmer ×

Russia-Ukraine crisis: UK to offer NATO military deployment in Europe; Kyiv urges West to be 'firm' in talks

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