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

What weapons has Ukraine received from Western countries to resist Russia's army?

Here are some of the top stories to start off your day:&nbsp;

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve border issues with Russia. US issued a straightforward call to North Korea to join direct negotiations regarding its nuclear and missile programmes with no preconditions. The first-ever yoga festival of Saudi Arabia was held at Bay La Sun Beach in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amid-war-like-situation-ukraine-asks-russia-to-pull-back-troops-diplomacy-is-the-only-responsible-way-449079">Amid war-like situation, Ukraine asks Russia to pull back troops: 'Diplomacy is the only responsible way'</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2022/01/31/237377-ukraine-2.jpg" />Kyiv has urged Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine's border and must continue diplomatic engagement with the West if Moscow is serious when it says it doesn't want a new war.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-latest-missile-test-by-pyongyang-us-urges-north-korea-to-join-direct-talks-449073">After the latest missile test by Pyongyang, US urges North Korea to join direct talks&nbsp;</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2022/01/30/237356-fkugsaawuaq79mc.jpeg" />After Pyongyang sent a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into space on Sunday, the US issued a straightforward call to North Korea to join direct negotiations regarding its nuclear and missile programmes with no preconditions.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/uae-intercepts-ballistic-missile-fired-by-yemens-houthi-rebels-449086">UAE intercepts ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2022/01/31/237385-uae.jpg" /> 
It was not immediately clear about the location of the place where the missile remnants fell. There was no immediate effect on air travel in the UAE. The Emirati Defense Ministry has also released black-and-white footage, which it said to be showing the destruction of a ballistic missile launcher in Yemen's al-Jawf province just 30 minutes after the attack. 
 
Watch | WION Exclusive: Meet the woman, Nouf Marwaai, who brought yoga to Saudi Arabia

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Here are some of the top stories to start off your day: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve border issues with Russia.

Here are some of the top stories to start off your day: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve border issues with Russia. US issued a straightforward call to North Korea to join direct negotiations regarding its nuclear and missile programmes with no preconditions. The first-ever yoga festival of Saudi Arabia was held at Bay La Sun Beach in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Amid war-like situation, Ukraine asks Russia to pull back troops: 'Diplomacy is the only responsible way' Kyiv has urged Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine's border and must continue diplomatic engagement with the West if Moscow is serious when it says it doesn't want a new war. After the latest missile test by Pyongyang, US urges North Korea to join direct talks After Pyongyang sent a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into space on Sunday, the US issued a straightforward call to North Korea to join direct negotiations regarding its nuclear and missile programmes with no preconditions. UAE intercepts ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels It was not immediately clear about the location of the place where the missile remnants fell. There was no immediate effect on air travel in the UAE. The Emirati Defense Ministry has also released black-and-white footage, which it said to be showing the destruction of a ballistic missile launcher in Yemen's al-Jawf province just 30 minutes after the attack. Watch | WION Exclusive: Meet the woman, Nouf Marwaai, who brought yoga to Saudi Arabia Watch | Covid News: 34 new cases among Beijing Olympic-related personnel

Morning News Brief: Russia-Ukraine conflict, US-North Korea talks and more

Beyond full scale attack on Ukraine, what are other risky options does Russia have?

The Kremlin warned Thursday that there was “not much cause for optimism” that the West would satisfy Russia’s demands in the showdown over Ukraine, but said that President Vladimir Putin would take his time to study the written responses that the United States and NATO submitted a day earlier before deciding how to proceed.

“All these papers are with the president,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters. “There will of course be some time needed to analyze them — we won’t rush to any conclusions.”

Peskov did not discuss the content of the responses, which the United States has requested be kept confidential. But he said that based on public remarks about them by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, there was little likelihood that the West would offer concessions on Russia’s central demands.

“There is not much cause for optimism,” Peskov said, replying to a question over whether Russia would be satisfied with the Western responses. “But I would continue to refrain from making any conceptual evaluations.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sounded a similarly negative note, saying in comments published on his ministry’s website that the U.S. document contained “no positive reaction” to Russia’s main demands.

The Russian officials’ comments came against the backdrop of Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine, and hours after a shooting at a Ukrainian missile factory overnight that served as a reminder of the fragile military situation on the ground. There was no immediate evidence that the shooting was related to the building military tensions in the region.

As Western fears grew over a possible Russian attack against Ukraine, Moscow published a list of demands last month that would involve NATO withdrawing troops from Eastern Europe and pledging never to allow Ukraine to join. Russia requested a response in writing, which the United States and NATO submitted Wednesday.

Lavrov said that while the U.S. response included initiatives that could serve as “the beginning of a serious conversation,” there was no sign of progress on Russia’s priority of rolling back the NATO presence in Eastern Europe. He said that consultations among Russian government officials would be followed by a briefing to Putin, who “will decide on our next steps.”

Putin, who has been silent in public on the Ukraine crisis since December, visited a cemetery in St. Petersburg on Thursday to mark the 78th anniversary of the end of the Nazis’ siege of Leningrad, in which Putin’s brother died as a child. State television aired brief footage of Putin, in a black overcoat, placing flowers onto a wreath in the snow. Peskov said the president planned no other public events.

For now, officials on all sides say there is still a chance for diplomacy to resolve the crisis.

Senior officials from Ukraine and Russia met in person in Paris for eight hours Wednesday in a session mediated by France and Germany. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Thursday described the talks as a positive development, but emphasized the importance of adhering to the cease-fire in the eastern Ukraine region known as the Donbas, where violence occasionally flares in a long-simmering conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists.

“For our country, the first priority at this moment is achieving a stable and unconditional quiet in the Donbas,” he said in a statement.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexei Zaitsev, said another meeting scheduled to take place in Berlin in two weeks could identify “solutions to problems that have been piling up for seven years.” And he reiterated Russian officials’ insistence that their country had no plans to attack Ukraine.

“We see it as unacceptable to even think about war between our peoples,” Zaitsev said, according to the Interfax news agency.

But analysts say it is very likely Putin’s diplomats do not know what, exactly, their president is planning. The Kremlin is seeking to rewrite Europe’s post-Cold War order to give Russia a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe — something Putin says is critical to Russia’s long-term security. Putin has threatened unspecified “military-technical” measures if the West does not accede to Russia’s demands. 
&nbsp;

The Kremlin warned Thursday that there was “not much cause for optimism” that the West would satisfy Russia’s demands in the showdown over Ukraine, but said that President Vladimir Putin would take his time to study the written responses that the United States and NATO submitted a day earlier before deciding how to proceed.

The Kremlin warned Thursday that there was “not much cause for optimism” that the West would satisfy Russia’s demands in the showdown over Ukraine, but said that President Vladimir Putin would take his time to study the written responses that the United States and NATO submitted a day earlier before deciding how to proceed. “All these papers are with the president,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters. “There will of course be some time needed to analyze them — we won’t rush to any conclusions.” Peskov did not discuss the content of the responses, which the United States has requested be kept confidential. But he said that based on public remarks about them by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, there was little likelihood that the West would offer concessions on Russia’s central demands. “There is not much cause for optimism,” Peskov said, replying to a question over whether Russia would be satisfied with the Western responses. “But I would continue to refrain from making any conceptual evaluations.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sounded a similarly negative note, saying in comments published on his ministry’s website that the U.S. document contained “no positive reaction” to Russia’s main demands. The Russian officials’ comments came against the backdrop of Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine, and hours after a shooting at a Ukrainian missile factory overnight that served as a reminder of the fragile military situation on the ground. There was no immediate evidence that the shooting was related to the building military tensions in the region. As Western fears grew over a possible Russian attack against Ukraine, Moscow published a list of demands last month that would involve NATO withdrawing troops from Eastern Europe and pledging never to allow Ukraine to join. Russia requested a response in writing, which the United States and NATO submitted Wednesday. Lavrov said that while the U.S. response included initiatives that could serve as “the beginning of a serious conversation,” there was no sign of progress on Russia’s priority of rolling back the NATO presence in Eastern Europe. He said that consultations among Russian government officials would be followed by a briefing to Putin, who “will decide on our next steps.” Putin, who has been silent in public on the Ukraine crisis since December, visited a cemetery in St. Petersburg on Thursday to mark the 78th anniversary of the end of the Nazis’ siege of Leningrad, in which Putin’s brother died as a child. State television aired brief footage of Putin, in a black overcoat, placing flowers onto a wreath in the snow. Peskov said the president planned no other public events. For now, officials on all sides say there is still a chance for diplomacy to resolve the crisis. Senior officials from Ukraine and Russia met in person in Paris for eight hours Wednesday in a session mediated by France and Germany. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Thursday described the talks as a positive development, but emphasized the importance of adhering to the cease-fire in the eastern Ukraine region known as the Donbas, where violence occasionally flares in a long-simmering conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. “For our country, the first priority at this moment is achieving a stable and unconditional quiet in the Donbas,” he said in a statement. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexei Zaitsev, said another meeting scheduled to take place in Berlin in two weeks could identify “solutions to problems that have been piling up for seven years.” And he reiterated Russian officials’ insistence that their country had no plans to attack Ukraine. “We see it as unacceptable to even think about war between our peoples,” Zaitsev said, according to the Interfax news agency. But analysts say it is very likely Putin’s diplomats do not know what, exactly, their president is planning. The Kremlin is seeking to rewrite Europe’s post-Cold War order to give Russia a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe — something Putin says is critical to Russia’s long-term security. Putin has threatened unspecified “military-technical” measures if the West does not accede to Russia’s demands.

Kremlin says US response to its demands does not offer ‘much cause for optimism’

What are NATO's next steps if Russia invades Ukraine?

Amid the tense situation over Ukraine and talks with the west, Russia on Thursday said that it has kept Indian "partners" in the loop.

In response to a WION question at the weekly presser of the Russian foreign ministry, deputy director of the information and press department Alexey Zaytsev said," we are informing our Indian partners on the relevant security situation in Europe and corresponding negotiations."

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/ukraine-civilians-undergo-military-training-to-defend-against-russian-invasion-448125/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Russia is keen that the West gives it a security guarantee over Ukraine not joining the NATO alliance. A number of rounds of talks have happened between US and Russia in Geneva, including between US Secretary of State Blinken and Russian foreign minister Lavrov. West is concerned over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, something Moscow has been dismissing.

Zaytsev explained that "privilege partnership with New Delhi is one of the key tasks of our foreign policy" and both sides are "developing cooperation" in trade, economics and energy, military-technical, science and technology, space, and other spheres. He highlighted how both countries "support the concept of multipolarity in the world" and have a "close position" on a number of issues.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-are-natos-next-steps-if-russia-invades-ukraine-448121" hreflang="en">What are NATO's next steps if Russia invades Ukraine?</a>

Important to note, Russian Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had a meeting with Indian Envoy to Russia Pavan Kapoor earlier this month.

During the meet, they "exchanged views and&nbsp;assessments on the events in Geneva, Brussels, and&nbsp;Vienna on security guarantees for Russia" according to a Russian readout of the meet.

Interestingly, &nbsp;Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had led the talks from the Russian side in Geneva, where the US was represented by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The Russian foreign ministry reaction comes even as Wendy Sherman made a telephonic call to India's foreign secretary Harsh Shringla to brief on the situation.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russias-security-concerns-should-be-taken-seriously-china-tells-us-on-ukraine-crisis-448018">Also read |&nbsp;Russia's security concerns should be taken seriously: China tells US on Ukraine crisis</a>

The Russian foreign ministry also commented on the former German Navy Chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach's comments in Delhi in which he called for good ties with Russia and that Ukraine can never join NATO. The Deputy Director said his statement, "reflects not only the views of the admiral", but also the "views of the political and military leaders of Germany".

The comments by the German Navy chief in Delhi had caused a diplomatic storm in Germany and Ukraine. In Ukraine, the foreign ministry had summoned the German envoy to lodge a protest. Later Schönbach stepped down and handed over his resignation.

Zaytsev pointed out that "such signals are getting to us though our diplomatic representations in Germany" and "Berlin has a healthy understanding of the true character of the political process including Ukraine and justifiability of Russian demands regarding the legal guarantees of the security of our country in the western borders bloc discipline of NATO sometimes silence these voices of reason in Germany."

Amid the tense situation over Ukraine and talks with the west, Russia on Thursday said that it has kept Indian "partners" in the loop. In response to a WION question at the weekly presser of the Russian foreign ministry, deputy director of the information and press department Alexey Zaytsev said," we are informing our Indian partners on the relevant security situation in Europe and corresponding negotiations.

Amid the tense situation over Ukraine and talks with the west, Russia on Thursday said that it has kept Indian "partners" in the loop. In response to a WION question at the weekly presser of the Russian foreign ministry, deputy director of the information and press department Alexey Zaytsev said," we are informing our Indian partners on the relevant security situation in Europe and corresponding negotiations." Russia is keen that the West gives it a security guarantee over Ukraine not joining the NATO alliance. A number of rounds of talks have happened between US and Russia in Geneva, including between US Secretary of State Blinken and Russian foreign minister Lavrov. West is concerned over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, something Moscow has been dismissing. Zaytsev explained that "privilege partnership with New Delhi is one of the key tasks of our foreign policy" and both sides are "developing cooperation" in trade, economics and energy, military-technical, science and technology, space, and other spheres. He highlighted how both countries "support the concept of multipolarity in the world" and have a "close position" on a number of issues. Also see | What are NATO's next steps if Russia invades Ukraine? Important to note, Russian Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had a meeting with Indian Envoy to Russia Pavan Kapoor earlier this month. During the meet, they "exchanged views and assessments on the events in Geneva, Brussels, and Vienna on security guarantees for Russia" according to a Russian readout of the meet. Interestingly, Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had led the talks from the Russian side in Geneva, where the US was represented by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The Russian foreign ministry reaction comes even as Wendy Sherman made a telephonic call to India's foreign secretary Harsh Shringla to brief on the situation. Also read | Russia's security concerns should be taken seriously: China tells US on Ukraine crisis The Russian foreign ministry also commented on the former German Navy Chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach's comments in Delhi in which he called for good ties with Russia and that Ukraine can never join NATO. The Deputy Director said his statement, "reflects not only the views of the admiral", but also the "views of the political and military leaders of Germany". The comments by the German Navy chief in Delhi had caused a diplomatic storm in Germany and Ukraine. In Ukraine, the foreign ministry had summoned the German envoy to lodge a protest. Later Schönbach stepped down and handed over his resignation. Zaytsev pointed out that "such signals are getting to us though our diplomatic representations in Germany" and "Berlin has a healthy understanding of the true character of the political process including Ukraine and justifiability of Russian demands regarding the legal guarantees of the security of our country in the western borders bloc discipline of NATO sometimes silence these voices of reason in Germany."

Amid tense situation over Ukraine, Russian foreign ministry says India kept in loop

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of building up troop presence on Ukraine's borders, while the US has warned Moscow against "intimidating" Ukraine.

Zelensky has described these as a regular interference by Russia. "Muscle-flexing in the form of military exercises and possible provocations along the border are traditional Russian games," he said in a statement.

He also accused the Vladimir Putin-led country of creating a "threatening atmosphere" while Ukraine is aiming to resume a ceasefire that was brokered last year.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/cannot-ape-putin-explains-why-he-chose-to-get-vaccinated-in-private-373949">'Cannot ape': Putin explains why he chose to get vaccinated in private</a>

Kremlin, however, has denied reports and has claimed Russia is 'not threatening' Ukraine.&nbsp;

"No doubt such a scenario would lead to a further increase in tensions close to Russia's borders. Of course, this would call for additional measures from the Russian side to ensure its security,"&nbsp;Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media.

The Kremlin has also warned that Russia will take&nbsp;'measures' if Western troops are sent to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the US State Department has warned Russia against massing troops on the border.

The department said it is "absolutely concerned by recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern&nbsp;Ukraine."

"What we would object to are aggressive actions that have an&nbsp;intent of intimidating, of threatening, our partner&nbsp;Ukraine."

Experts believe the buildup on the border is Russia’s technique to put the newly-elected Joe Biden’s administration to test after the US president labelled Putin as a "killer”."

There has been a rise in violence between Ukraine’s government forces and Kremlin-backed separatists.

As of now, Zelensky said, 20 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 57 wounded since the start of the year.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of building up troop presence on Ukraine's borders, while the US has warned Moscow against "intimidating" Ukraine.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of building up troop presence on Ukraine's borders, while the US has warned Moscow against "intimidating" Ukraine. Zelensky has described these as a regular interference by Russia. "Muscle-flexing in the form of military exercises and possible provocations along the border are traditional Russian games," he said in a statement. He also accused the Vladimir Putin-led country of creating a "threatening atmosphere" while Ukraine is aiming to resume a ceasefire that was brokered last year. Also read | 'Cannot ape': Putin explains why he chose to get vaccinated in private Kremlin, however, has denied reports and has claimed Russia is 'not threatening' Ukraine. "No doubt such a scenario would lead to a further increase in tensions close to Russia's borders. Of course, this would call for additional measures from the Russian side to ensure its security," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media. The Kremlin has also warned that Russia will take 'measures' if Western troops are sent to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the US State Department has warned Russia against massing troops on the border. The department said it is "absolutely concerned by recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern Ukraine." "What we would object to are aggressive actions that have an intent of intimidating, of threatening, our partner Ukraine." Experts believe the buildup on the border is Russia’s technique to put the newly-elected Joe Biden’s administration to test after the US president labelled Putin as a "killer”." There has been a rise in violence between Ukraine’s government forces and Kremlin-backed separatists. As of now, Zelensky said, 20 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 57 wounded since the start of the year.

Ukraine accuses Russia of massing troops on border; Moscow warns 'measures'

US President Joe Biden has claimed that he has warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that Moscow will be facing economic sanctions if Ukraine is attacked by his forces.<o:p></o:p>

Biden claims he made it very clear that Russia will be facing economic sanctions ‘like never before’ if Russian forces launch an attack on Ukraine. "I made it very clear if in fact he invades Ukraine there will be severe consequences, severe consequences — economic consequences like none he's ever seen or ever have been seen," Biden told reporters at the White House.<o:p></o:p>

Not just this, the US President also claims that the Russian President received "the message". His warning comes a few hours after the two world leaders met each other in a virtual meeting.

<o:p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/joe-biden-sending-us-troops-to-ukraine-not-on-cards-russia-ukraine-tensions-435305">WATCH |</a></o:p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/joe-biden-sending-us-troops-to-ukraine-not-on-cards-russia-ukraine-tensions-435305/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

While Biden has issued such a strong statement against his Russian counterpart to protect Ukraine, he has also added that sending US soldiers to Ukraine to help confront Russia is "not on the table".<o:p></o:p>

"The idea the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine is not on the cards right now," Biden said. "We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies under Article Five. It's a sacred obligation. That obligation does not extend to... Ukraine."<o:p></o:p>

"But it would depend upon what the rest of the NATO countries were willing to do as well," Biden added.<o:p></o:p>

Speaking the same tune as his President, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken&nbsp;claims that the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, reiterated a similar message on this topic. The two have "agreed on the need to impose swift and severe costs on Russia if it escalates its aggression in Ukraine," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.<o:p></o:p>

However, Russia has claimed that the troops are marching towards the border as a defensive measure, and not to attack Ukraine. "Russia has a peaceful foreign policy, but has the right to defend its security," Putin said at a news conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "We cannot but be concerned about the prospect of Ukraine's possible admission to NATO, because this will undoubtedly be followed by the deployment of appropriate military contingents, bases and weapons that threaten us."<o:p></o:p>

France, too, has supported US’ statement on this issue and warned of similar "strategic and massive consequences". The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, too, warned Putin of consequences in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Russian project to deliver natural gas to Germany, if such an attack takes place.

<o:p>(With inputs from agencies)</o:p>

US President Joe Biden has claimed that he has warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that Moscow will be facing economic sanctions if Ukraine is attacked by his forces.

US President Joe Biden has claimed that he has warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that Moscow will be facing economic sanctions if Ukraine is attacked by his forces. Biden claims he made it very clear that Russia will be facing economic sanctions ‘like never before’ if Russian forces launch an attack on Ukraine. "I made it very clear if in fact he invades Ukraine there will be severe consequences, severe consequences — economic consequences like none he's ever seen or ever have been seen," Biden told reporters at the White House. Not just this, the US President also claims that the Russian President received "the message". His warning comes a few hours after the two world leaders met each other in a virtual meeting. WATCH | While Biden has issued such a strong statement against his Russian counterpart to protect Ukraine, he has also added that sending US soldiers to Ukraine to help confront Russia is "not on the table". "The idea the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine is not on the cards right now," Biden said. "We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies under Article Five. It's a sacred obligation. That obligation does not extend to... Ukraine." "But it would depend upon what the rest of the NATO countries were willing to do as well," Biden added. Speaking the same tune as his President, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claims that the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, reiterated a similar message on this topic. The two have "agreed on the need to impose swift and severe costs on Russia if it escalates its aggression in Ukraine," State Department spokesman Ned Price said. However, Russia has claimed that the troops are marching towards the border as a defensive measure, and not to attack Ukraine. "Russia has a peaceful foreign policy, but has the right to defend its security," Putin said at a news conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "We cannot but be concerned about the prospect of Ukraine's possible admission to NATO, because this will undoubtedly be followed by the deployment of appropriate military contingents, bases and weapons that threaten us." France, too, has supported US’ statement on this issue and warned of similar "strategic and massive consequences". The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, too, warned Putin of consequences in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Russian project to deliver natural gas to Germany, if such an attack takes place. (With inputs from agencies)

Biden threatens Russia with 'severe sanctions' if Ukraine is attacked; US troops not to be involved

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russia has made plans for aggressive moves against Ukraine.

According to him, ''The plans include efforts to destabilise Ukraine from within as well as large scale military operations.''

Blinken warned Russia that the United States will impose 'high-impact' sanctions if it decides to invade Ukraine.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/nato-and-russia-spar-as-foreign-ministers-meet-in-latvia-putin-warns-west-433236/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

''We don't know whether President (Vladimir) Putin has made the decision to invade. We do know that he is putting in place the capacity to do so in on short order should he so decide,'' he said.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has vowed to provide political and practical support to Ukraine.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-will-happen-if-russian-troops-invade-ukraine-431684">What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine?</a>

''The problem with Russia is that they are not transparent, that they have a very aggressive rhetoric and a track record showing they have used military exercises before as a disguise for aggressive actions against neighbours,'' he said.

He added that US-led military organisation must prepare for the worst as concern mounts that Russia could be preparing to invade Ukraine.

The West has accused Moscow of amassing "tens of thousands of additional combat forces" near Ukraine's border.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russian-military-spotted-near-ukraine-border-after-us-warning-376922">Also read |&nbsp;Russian military spotted near Ukraine border after US warning</a>

Denying aggressive intent in the current crisis, Kremlin said it feared Ukraine was gearing up to try to recapture by force areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region in the east of the country.

In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Europe faced a critical moment and Russia was trying to shift the blame onto Ukraine.

''I would like again to officially state that Ukraine does not plan any military offensive in Donbass. This is Russian propaganda nonsense in order to cover up Russia's own preparations for a potential attack,'' he added.

More than 13,000 people have been killed in a war that began in 2014 between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.

(With inputs from agencies)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russia has made plans for aggressive moves against Ukraine. According to him, ''The plans include efforts to destabilise Ukraine from within as well as large scale military operations.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russia has made plans for aggressive moves against Ukraine. According to him, ''The plans include efforts to destabilise Ukraine from within as well as large scale military operations.'' Blinken warned Russia that the United States will impose 'high-impact' sanctions if it decides to invade Ukraine. ''We don't know whether President (Vladimir) Putin has made the decision to invade. We do know that he is putting in place the capacity to do so in on short order should he so decide,'' he said. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has vowed to provide political and practical support to Ukraine. Also see | What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine? ''The problem with Russia is that they are not transparent, that they have a very aggressive rhetoric and a track record showing they have used military exercises before as a disguise for aggressive actions against neighbours,'' he said. He added that US-led military organisation must prepare for the worst as concern mounts that Russia could be preparing to invade Ukraine. The West has accused Moscow of amassing "tens of thousands of additional combat forces" near Ukraine's border. Also read | Russian military spotted near Ukraine border after US warning Denying aggressive intent in the current crisis, Kremlin said it feared Ukraine was gearing up to try to recapture by force areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region in the east of the country. In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Europe faced a critical moment and Russia was trying to shift the blame onto Ukraine. ''I would like again to officially state that Ukraine does not plan any military offensive in Donbass. This is Russian propaganda nonsense in order to cover up Russia's own preparations for a potential attack,'' he added. More than 13,000 people have been killed in a war that began in 2014 between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists. (With inputs from agencies)

Russia has made plans for aggressive moves against Ukraine, says Blinken

At a news conference a few days ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked whether the Biden administration had a “red line” in Ukraine, a point beyond which Russian aggression toward the country would incite a dramatic American response.

Blinken wouldn’t bite. “The U.S. has real concerns about Russia’s unusual military activity on the border with Ukraine,” he said, with notable understatement. No red line was drawn. The State Department spokesperson batted aside a similar question on Tuesday, saying only that “any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of great concern.”

U.S. officials often avoid questions about red lines, which when crossed can damage their credibility if they do not act. But in the case of Russia — which has been moving the estimated 90,000 troops it has on its border with Ukraine in ways that officials say might presage an invasion — the Biden administration has been conspicuously vague about when, and how, it might come to Ukraine’s defense.

That has raised questions about how far President Joe Biden would be willing to go in a confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Biden’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, resisted strongly increasing America’s commitment to Ukraine because, he said, Putin would always raise the ante even more. Obama otherwise largely delegated Ukraine affairs to Biden, then his vice president, who visited the country several times, extolling its independence.

Despite his personal investment in Ukraine’s fate, however, it is unclear how much Biden may be willing to risk on the country’s behalf as he fixates on competition with China. His senior officials have said repeatedly that their goal with Russia is to develop a relationship of stability and predictability.

In a statement on Wednesday honoring the millions of Ukrainians who starved to death under Josef Stalin, Biden said the United States “also reaffirms our commitment to the people of Ukraine today and our unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

For now, the Biden administration is focusing on diplomatic channels to deter and dissuade Putin, according to people familiar with the matter. Those could eventually include a second face-to-face meeting between Biden and Putin: Last week, the Kremlin’s spokesperson said Washington and Moscow were discussing another potential summit.

Biden’s administration views continued dialogue with Putin as important to stopping him from taking action against Ukraine.

At the same time, U.S. officials are hammering out steps with partner countries to punish any Russian provocations, including new economic sanctions.

“We have administration officials in Europe trying to work towards coordinating what those economic measures would be,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a Russia expert with the Center for a New American Security who advised the Biden transition team. She said such action could include sanctions on Russian banks and energy producers and the country’s sovereign debt.

Nevertheless, U.S. and British officials have discussed imposing tougher sanctions on people close to Putin, including some measures that were considered, but put aside, after Moscow’s agents used a nerve agent in an attempt to kill a former Russian intelligence officer in Britain in 2018.

Measures under consideration include blocking Russian oligarchs from using Visa and Mastercard credit cards and restricting where they and their families can travel in Britain and Europe, as well as other kinds of sanctions that might get Putin’s attention quickly but damage parts of the American or European economy.

A Ukrainian official said the United States was considering a package of increased military aid to Ukraine. (The Biden administration is sending more than $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine this year.) But U.S. officials are hesitant to discuss Washington’s support, for fear of escalating the situation further.

Fiona Hill, who served as the National Security Council’s director for Russia in the Trump White House, added that one of Putin’s goals was to strike a deal with the United States that excluded European input.

“This is really a challenge to Europeans to step up in solidarity with the United States,” she said. “The United States shouldn’t be the prime mover here.”

But Kendall-Taylor said Putin might doubt Western willingness to follow through. “I think there is a calculation on Putin’s part that there will be a lack of resolve in the West,” she said, adding that the Russian leader recognizes that the United States in particular is determined to focus its attention on China.

Russia has not explicitly threatened to invade Ukraine, but it has complained of alleged provocations from the Ukrainian side of their shared border. Putin has supported a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in the former Soviet republic’s east since 2014, when a popular revolution ousted Ukraine’s Putin-backed president. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula soon afterward.

In a sign of the increasing tensions, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, spoke by phone Tuesday with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov. The Pentagon said in a statement that the call was meant to “ensure risk reduction and operational deconfliction.”

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said that the United States is providing information and data to Kyiv about the Russian force buildup. Western officials have confirmed that NATO allies are stepping up intelligence sharing with Ukraine, in hopes that a better understanding of the rising threat will help Kyiv better prepare and better deter Moscow.

Even in worst-case scenarios, most analysts say, Kyiv should not expect the U.S. military to come to its rescue.

“The Russians know full well, because they’ve been invading Ukraine for seven years now, that we’re not going to send in the 82nd Airborne,” said Samuel Charap, a former State Department official now with the RAND Corp. “And I think they have likely priced in everything short of that, in the sense that they are willing to pay the price.”

“That’s what makes this hard,” he added. “There’s no easy way out of this.”

U.S. officials said they did not believe that Putin had yet decided whether to take military action against Ukraine. While the threat is being taken seriously, officials said, the United States and its allies have time to try to prepare Kyiv and convince Moscow that such a move would be a terrible mistake.

Whatever Putin’s thinking, his troop buildup is likely to test the willingness of the United States, NATO and Europe to act.

“The buildup of Russian forces is in part to see what Brussels is going to do and what Washington is going to do,” said Martijn Rasser, a former CIA officer and now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “Putin sees one goal of this military action as gauging the resolve of the West when it comes to having Ukraine’s back.” 
&nbsp;

At a news conference a few days ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked whether the Biden administration had a “red line” in Ukraine, a point beyond which Russian aggression toward the country would incite a dramatic American response.

At a news conference a few days ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked whether the Biden administration had a “red line” in Ukraine, a point beyond which Russian aggression toward the country would incite a dramatic American response. Blinken wouldn’t bite. “The U.S. has real concerns about Russia’s unusual military activity on the border with Ukraine,” he said, with notable understatement. No red line was drawn. The State Department spokesperson batted aside a similar question on Tuesday, saying only that “any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of great concern.” U.S. officials often avoid questions about red lines, which when crossed can damage their credibility if they do not act. But in the case of Russia — which has been moving the estimated 90,000 troops it has on its border with Ukraine in ways that officials say might presage an invasion — the Biden administration has been conspicuously vague about when, and how, it might come to Ukraine’s defense. That has raised questions about how far President Joe Biden would be willing to go in a confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Biden’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, resisted strongly increasing America’s commitment to Ukraine because, he said, Putin would always raise the ante even more. Obama otherwise largely delegated Ukraine affairs to Biden, then his vice president, who visited the country several times, extolling its independence. Despite his personal investment in Ukraine’s fate, however, it is unclear how much Biden may be willing to risk on the country’s behalf as he fixates on competition with China. His senior officials have said repeatedly that their goal with Russia is to develop a relationship of stability and predictability. In a statement on Wednesday honoring the millions of Ukrainians who starved to death under Josef Stalin, Biden said the United States “also reaffirms our commitment to the people of Ukraine today and our unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” For now, the Biden administration is focusing on diplomatic channels to deter and dissuade Putin, according to people familiar with the matter. Those could eventually include a second face-to-face meeting between Biden and Putin: Last week, the Kremlin’s spokesperson said Washington and Moscow were discussing another potential summit. Biden’s administration views continued dialogue with Putin as important to stopping him from taking action against Ukraine. At the same time, U.S. officials are hammering out steps with partner countries to punish any Russian provocations, including new economic sanctions. “We have administration officials in Europe trying to work towards coordinating what those economic measures would be,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a Russia expert with the Center for a New American Security who advised the Biden transition team. She said such action could include sanctions on Russian banks and energy producers and the country’s sovereign debt. Nevertheless, U.S. and British officials have discussed imposing tougher sanctions on people close to Putin, including some measures that were considered, but put aside, after Moscow’s agents used a nerve agent in an attempt to kill a former Russian intelligence officer in Britain in 2018. Measures under consideration include blocking Russian oligarchs from using Visa and Mastercard credit cards and restricting where they and their families can travel in Britain and Europe, as well as other kinds of sanctions that might get Putin’s attention quickly but damage parts of the American or European economy. A Ukrainian official said the United States was considering a package of increased military aid to Ukraine. (The Biden administration is sending more than $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine this year.) But U.S. officials are hesitant to discuss Washington’s support, for fear of escalating the situation further. Fiona Hill, who served as the National Security Council’s director for Russia in the Trump White House, added that one of Putin’s goals was to strike a deal with the United States that excluded European input. “This is really a challenge to Europeans to step up in solidarity with the United States,” she said. “The United States shouldn’t be the prime mover here.” But Kendall-Taylor said Putin might doubt Western willingness to follow through. “I think there is a calculation on Putin’s part that there will be a lack of resolve in the West,” she said, adding that the Russian leader recognizes that the United States in particular is determined to focus its attention on China. Russia has not explicitly threatened to invade Ukraine, but it has complained of alleged provocations from the Ukrainian side of their shared border. Putin has supported a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in the former Soviet republic’s east since 2014, when a popular revolution ousted Ukraine’s Putin-backed president. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula soon afterward. In a sign of the increasing tensions, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, spoke by phone Tuesday with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov. The Pentagon said in a statement that the call was meant to “ensure risk reduction and operational deconfliction.” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said that the United States is providing information and data to Kyiv about the Russian force buildup. Western officials have confirmed that NATO allies are stepping up intelligence sharing with Ukraine, in hopes that a better understanding of the rising threat will help Kyiv better prepare and better deter Moscow. Even in worst-case scenarios, most analysts say, Kyiv should not expect the U.S. military to come to its rescue. “The Russians know full well, because they’ve been invading Ukraine for seven years now, that we’re not going to send in the 82nd Airborne,” said Samuel Charap, a former State Department official now with the RAND Corp. “And I think they have likely priced in everything short of that, in the sense that they are willing to pay the price.” “That’s what makes this hard,” he added. “There’s no easy way out of this.” U.S. officials said they did not believe that Putin had yet decided whether to take military action against Ukraine. While the threat is being taken seriously, officials said, the United States and its allies have time to try to prepare Kyiv and convince Moscow that such a move would be a terrible mistake. Whatever Putin’s thinking, his troop buildup is likely to test the willingness of the United States, NATO and Europe to act. “The buildup of Russian forces is in part to see what Brussels is going to do and what Washington is going to do,” said Martijn Rasser, a former CIA officer and now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “Putin sees one goal of this military action as gauging the resolve of the West when it comes to having Ukraine’s back.”

How far would Biden go to defend Ukraine against Russia?

US intelligence information shows that Russia has&nbsp;built up troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into Ukraine from multiple locations according to people familiar with the discussions.

A report by Bloomberg indicates that the US shared intelligence which included maps with its European allies.

Over the past week, some NATO members have received this intelligence that supports US concerns about Putin's intentions as well as an increasingly frantic diplomatic effort to deter him from any incursion.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hysteria-is-being-whipped-up-artificially-says-russia-over-ukraine-conflict-431009">Hysteria is being whipped up artificially, says Russia over Ukraine conflict</a>

The American assessment suggests that Putin is considering an invasion next year.

A scenario is presented where troops, with about 100 battalion tactical groups, cross into Ukraine from Crimea, Russia, and Belarus.

About 100,000 soldiers could be deployed for what is described as an operation in rough terrain and freezing conditions. Allegedly it would cover an extensive territory. The forces, according to this scenario would be prepared for an occupation that could last for months or even years.

Moscow is also reported to have called up tens of thousands of reservists, a number unheard of since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In any conflict, reservists are sent to secure territory in a later phase after tactical battalions have made their way. However, so far, Russia hasn't announced any big call-ups of reservists.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/dont-know-about-president-putins-intentions-blinken-on-ukraine-provocation-430821">Don't know about President Putin's intentions: Blinken on Ukraine 'provocation'</a>

It was also reported that the US had shared information about an exponential rise in disinformation targeted at Kyiv as well as the fact that Moscow had recruited agents for the purpose of sowing destabilisation inside Ukraine.

Last week, Putin denied any intentions to invade but welcomed the alarm as proof that it had drawn the attention of the United States and its allies, which he charged had not taken Russia's "red lines" over Ukraine seriously enough.

However, it's not certain war will happen, or that&nbsp;Putin is serious about starting one.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;U.S. Congressmen introduce resolution to end recognition of Putin as president after 2024

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-congressmen-introduce-resolution-to-end-recognition-of-putin-as-president-after-2024-430908/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Earlier this month, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said he has "real concerns about Russia's unusual military activity".

"We don't know what President Putin's intentions are. But we do know what's happened in the past. We know the playbook of trying to cite some illusory provocation from Ukraine or any other country and using that as an excuse for what Russia plans to do all along," Blinken remarked.

US intelligence information shows that Russia has built up troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into Ukraine from multiple locations according to people familiar with the discussions.

US intelligence information shows that Russia has built up troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into Ukraine from multiple locations according to people familiar with the discussions. A report by Bloomberg indicates that the US shared intelligence which included maps with its European allies. Over the past week, some NATO members have received this intelligence that supports US concerns about Putin's intentions as well as an increasingly frantic diplomatic effort to deter him from any incursion. Also read | Hysteria is being whipped up artificially, says Russia over Ukraine conflict The American assessment suggests that Putin is considering an invasion next year. A scenario is presented where troops, with about 100 battalion tactical groups, cross into Ukraine from Crimea, Russia, and Belarus. About 100,000 soldiers could be deployed for what is described as an operation in rough terrain and freezing conditions. Allegedly it would cover an extensive territory. The forces, according to this scenario would be prepared for an occupation that could last for months or even years. Moscow is also reported to have called up tens of thousands of reservists, a number unheard of since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In any conflict, reservists are sent to secure territory in a later phase after tactical battalions have made their way. However, so far, Russia hasn't announced any big call-ups of reservists. Also read | Don't know about President Putin's intentions: Blinken on Ukraine 'provocation' It was also reported that the US had shared information about an exponential rise in disinformation targeted at Kyiv as well as the fact that Moscow had recruited agents for the purpose of sowing destabilisation inside Ukraine. Last week, Putin denied any intentions to invade but welcomed the alarm as proof that it had drawn the attention of the United States and its allies, which he charged had not taken Russia's "red lines" over Ukraine seriously enough. However, it's not certain war will happen, or that Putin is serious about starting one. Watch | U.S. Congressmen introduce resolution to end recognition of Putin as president after 2024 Earlier this month, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said he has "real concerns about Russia's unusual military activity". "We don't know what President Putin's intentions are. But we do know what's happened in the past. We know the playbook of trying to cite some illusory provocation from Ukraine or any other country and using that as an excuse for what Russia plans to do all along," Blinken remarked.

US intel suggests Russia plans to invade Ukraine: Reports

The Kremlin on Sunday&nbsp;slammed the United States for&nbsp;whipping up tensions&nbsp;over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

''This hysteria is being whipped up artificially,'' said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"Those who have brought their armed forces from overseas are accusing us of unusual military activity on our own territory. That is, the United States."

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He even suggested that Ukraine was probably looking for a way to solve its own problems by force.

It comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has "real concerns about Russia's unusual military activity" near the ex-Soviet country.

He had said ''We don't know what President Putin's intentions are. But we do know what's happened in the past.''

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/blinken-expresses-real-concerns-over-russia-on-ukraine-430836" hreflang="en">Blinken expresses 'real concerns' over Russia on Ukraine</a>

''We know the playbook of trying to cite some illusory provocation from Ukraine or any other country and using that as an excuse for what Russia plans to do all along,'' Blinken added.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukrainian officials have been making similar statements for nearly two weeks.

Ukraine's army has been locked in a simmering conflict with pro-Russian separatists in two breakaway regions bordering Russia since 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)

The Kremlin on Sunday slammed the United States for whipping up tensions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ''This hysteria is being whipped up artificially,'' said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The Kremlin on Sunday slammed the United States for whipping up tensions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ''This hysteria is being whipped up artificially,'' said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "Those who have brought their armed forces from overseas are accusing us of unusual military activity on our own territory. That is, the United States." He even suggested that Ukraine was probably looking for a way to solve its own problems by force. It comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has "real concerns about Russia's unusual military activity" near the ex-Soviet country. He had said ''We don't know what President Putin's intentions are. But we do know what's happened in the past.'' Also read | Blinken expresses 'real concerns' over Russia on Ukraine ''We know the playbook of trying to cite some illusory provocation from Ukraine or any other country and using that as an excuse for what Russia plans to do all along,'' Blinken added. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukrainian officials have been making similar statements for nearly two weeks. Ukraine's army has been locked in a simmering conflict with pro-Russian separatists in two breakaway regions bordering Russia since 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine. (With inputs from agencies)

Hysteria is being whipped up artificially, says Russia over Ukraine conflict

It is a sign of the heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine that for a few hours this week, а meandering, half-century-old Ukrainian naval ship seemed like it could spark a worrisome military escalation.

The ship, according to Ukrainian officials, was unarmed and involved in a simple training exercise Thursday in a small but strategic waterway bordered by Ukraine to the west and Russia to the east. It seemed to be primarily an example of the Ukrainian navy’s decrepitude, although it’s possible that Ukraine, too, could have been trying to push the boundaries and provoke Russia.

Either way, the Russian security services and state news media quickly seized on the encounter, portraying it as an imminent threat.

Russia’s domestic spy service, the FSB, announced late in the evening that it had intercepted the ship for failing to obey orders. That set off the Kremlin’s propagandists, who played up the move as a prelude to war. RT, a Russian government television station, began livestreaming coverage on YouTube under the headline “UKRAINIAN PROVOCATION,” with a military analyst suggesting the ship should be blown out of the water.

“This is the provocation everyone has been waiting for,” Andrei Medvedev, an RT contributor wrote.

In the end, it was not, as the vessel returned to port without incident.

A lumbering ship may not yet be enough to provoke a full-on Russian assault. But with Moscow having amassed nearly 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles, people on all sides of the conflict are jumpy.

The brief flare-up not only underscores the dangers inherent in the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists, but also suggests that the situation remains volatile even after a video call this week between President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin of Russia aimed at ratcheting down tensions.

Putin’s rhetoric on Ukraine has become increasingly ominous. And Ukrainian troops are arrayed along a 250-mile barricade of trenches and fortifications that regularly erupts in machine gun and artillery fire as they face off against the separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

Much is riding on diplomatic efforts in the next days and weeks, experts said.

“I think that it’s obviously tense, but it’s not like we’re ready to roll,” said Eugene Rumer, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Rumer raised the possibility that, once Russia makes the decision to invade, it could use a minor incident as justification.

“If Putin realizes this conversation with Biden is not going anywhere, that he’s not getting what he wants, that this is hopeless, then I can imagine that a drone incident or a shell that somebody lobs could provide the pretext to pull the trigger,” he said.

Indeed, the decision by the FSB to intercept a seemingly harmless ship, combined with the furious reaction from the Kremlin’s propagandists, has unnerved Ukrainian and Western officials, who fear that it serves as a model for how the Kremlin could use a contrived excuse to invade.

Ukrainian observers said they found the timing of the FSB’s announcement suspicious. It came out around the time the government released the details of a telephone call between Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Biden.

In a statement on Twitter, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv delivered an unusually pointed response, saying that the Ukrainian ship did nothing illegal and accusing the Russian government of intentionally ginning up a controversy.

“Russia’s false allegations are part of its ongoing campaign to distract from its latest aggressive, provocative action,” the embassy wrote.

The ship — ironically named Donbass, the heart of the separatist territory — was intercepted in the Sea of Azov near the Kerch Strait, a narrow passage near Russian-occupied Crimea over which Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly clashed. In 2018, Russian forces opened fire on several Ukrainian naval vessels and arrested a number of sailors, whom they accused of straying into territorial waters that the Kremlin claimed as its own after the annexation of Crimea.

The FSB said the Donbass had refused to obey orders to divert from a course leading to the Kerch Strait. “These actions represent a threat to the safety of navigation,” its statement said.

According to Ukrainian officials, the ship never came closer than 18 nautical miles from the disputed waterway.

Ukrainian and Western officials say that Russian authorities, including Putin, seem to be previewing their rationalizations for an invasion. This month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Russia had “intensified disinformation to paint Ukraine as the aggressor to justify pre-planned military action.”

These efforts appeared to continue even after the video call between Putin and Biden.

In defiance of all evidence to the contrary, Putin on Thursday accused Ukrainian authorities of carrying out “a genocide” against the residents of the Donbass. Although civilians in the separatist territories live under the protection of Russian-backed military forces, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and one of the Kremlin’s chief propagandists, immediately amplified the claims, suggesting she hoped Russia would come to the residents’ rescue.

“Mother Russia has more than once saved millions from different forms of genocide,” she wrote on Telegram.

“I don’t know if he had that in mind,” she said of Putin, “but I certainly hope he did.”

The bellicose statements come against the backdrop of continuing violence along the so-called line of control separating Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. On Thursday, two Ukrainian service members were wounded in attacks on front-line positions, the country’s military press service reported.

Meanwhile, the buildup of Russian troops on the border shows no sign of abating. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that tank divisions from the western military district had practiced taking out anti-tank rockets similar to the Javelins provided by the United States and now deployed by Ukrainian forces in the country’s east. The exercises were held at training grounds in the Voronezh region, less than 200 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, warned in remarks to military attachés Thursday that worsening tensions in the region could force Russia to respond. In his statement, he specifically mentioned Russia’s opposition to the Javelins, which Ukrainian forces have not yet used on the battlefield, as well as Turkish-made Bayraktar drones, which have been used to attack separatists positions.

“Any provocation by the Ukrainian authorities to solve the problems of Donbass using force will be suppressed,” he said.

It is a sign of the heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine that for a few hours this week, а meandering, half-century-old Ukrainian naval ship seemed like it could spark a worrisome military escalation.

It is a sign of the heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine that for a few hours this week, а meandering, half-century-old Ukrainian naval ship seemed like it could spark a worrisome military escalation. The ship, according to Ukrainian officials, was unarmed and involved in a simple training exercise Thursday in a small but strategic waterway bordered by Ukraine to the west and Russia to the east. It seemed to be primarily an example of the Ukrainian navy’s decrepitude, although it’s possible that Ukraine, too, could have been trying to push the boundaries and provoke Russia. Either way, the Russian security services and state news media quickly seized on the encounter, portraying it as an imminent threat. Russia’s domestic spy service, the FSB, announced late in the evening that it had intercepted the ship for failing to obey orders. That set off the Kremlin’s propagandists, who played up the move as a prelude to war. RT, a Russian government television station, began livestreaming coverage on YouTube under the headline “UKRAINIAN PROVOCATION,” with a military analyst suggesting the ship should be blown out of the water. “This is the provocation everyone has been waiting for,” Andrei Medvedev, an RT contributor wrote. In the end, it was not, as the vessel returned to port without incident. A lumbering ship may not yet be enough to provoke a full-on Russian assault. But with Moscow having amassed nearly 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles, people on all sides of the conflict are jumpy. The brief flare-up not only underscores the dangers inherent in the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists, but also suggests that the situation remains volatile even after a video call this week between President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin of Russia aimed at ratcheting down tensions. Putin’s rhetoric on Ukraine has become increasingly ominous. And Ukrainian troops are arrayed along a 250-mile barricade of trenches and fortifications that regularly erupts in machine gun and artillery fire as they face off against the separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Much is riding on diplomatic efforts in the next days and weeks, experts said. “I think that it’s obviously tense, but it’s not like we’re ready to roll,” said Eugene Rumer, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Rumer raised the possibility that, once Russia makes the decision to invade, it could use a minor incident as justification. “If Putin realizes this conversation with Biden is not going anywhere, that he’s not getting what he wants, that this is hopeless, then I can imagine that a drone incident or a shell that somebody lobs could provide the pretext to pull the trigger,” he said. Indeed, the decision by the FSB to intercept a seemingly harmless ship, combined with the furious reaction from the Kremlin’s propagandists, has unnerved Ukrainian and Western officials, who fear that it serves as a model for how the Kremlin could use a contrived excuse to invade. Ukrainian observers said they found the timing of the FSB’s announcement suspicious. It came out around the time the government released the details of a telephone call between Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Biden. In a statement on Twitter, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv delivered an unusually pointed response, saying that the Ukrainian ship did nothing illegal and accusing the Russian government of intentionally ginning up a controversy. “Russia’s false allegations are part of its ongoing campaign to distract from its latest aggressive, provocative action,” the embassy wrote. The ship — ironically named Donbass, the heart of the separatist territory — was intercepted in the Sea of Azov near the Kerch Strait, a narrow passage near Russian-occupied Crimea over which Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly clashed. In 2018, Russian forces opened fire on several Ukrainian naval vessels and arrested a number of sailors, whom they accused of straying into territorial waters that the Kremlin claimed as its own after the annexation of Crimea. The FSB said the Donbass had refused to obey orders to divert from a course leading to the Kerch Strait. “These actions represent a threat to the safety of navigation,” its statement said. According to Ukrainian officials, the ship never came closer than 18 nautical miles from the disputed waterway. Ukrainian and Western officials say that Russian authorities, including Putin, seem to be previewing their rationalizations for an invasion. This month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Russia had “intensified disinformation to paint Ukraine as the aggressor to justify pre-planned military action.” These efforts appeared to continue even after the video call between Putin and Biden. In defiance of all evidence to the contrary, Putin on Thursday accused Ukrainian authorities of carrying out “a genocide” against the residents of the Donbass. Although civilians in the separatist territories live under the protection of Russian-backed military forces, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and one of the Kremlin’s chief propagandists, immediately amplified the claims, suggesting she hoped Russia would come to the residents’ rescue. “Mother Russia has more than once saved millions from different forms of genocide,” she wrote on Telegram. “I don’t know if he had that in mind,” she said of Putin, “but I certainly hope he did.” The bellicose statements come against the backdrop of continuing violence along the so-called line of control separating Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. On Thursday, two Ukrainian service members were wounded in attacks on front-line positions, the country’s military press service reported. Meanwhile, the buildup of Russian troops on the border shows no sign of abating. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that tank divisions from the western military district had practiced taking out anti-tank rockets similar to the Javelins provided by the United States and now deployed by Ukrainian forces in the country’s east. The exercises were held at training grounds in the Voronezh region, less than 200 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, warned in remarks to military attachés Thursday that worsening tensions in the region could force Russia to respond. In his statement, he specifically mentioned Russia’s opposition to the Javelins, which Ukrainian forces have not yet used on the battlefield, as well as Turkish-made Bayraktar drones, which have been used to attack separatists positions. “Any provocation by the Ukrainian authorities to solve the problems of Donbass using force will be suppressed,” he said.

Russia-Ukraine sea encounter highlights jittery nerves in the region

A Ukraine soldier was killed on Sunday and another seriously wounded in artillery fire from Russia-backed separatist rebels, as hostilities rise sharply in the country’s east.

As of the reported attack, Ukraine says 27 soldiers have been killed in the east this year, more than half the number who died in all of 2020.

Attacks have intensified in recent weeks and Russia has built up troops along the Ukraine border.

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Britain's Sky News filmed the deployment in the Voronezh area of Russia, close to the border. It said a small camp had been erected near Maslovka train station, where troops and equipment have been arriving.

From there, they are being transferred to a nearby training ground, where a military field camp has been erected.

Sky said the camp stretched for around one and a half-mile, or almost two and half kilometres.

The troops buildup has raised sharp concerns in the West.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in an interview Sunday of "consequences" if&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;acts "aggressively" towards Ukraine, amid rising alarm over a Russian troop build-up on the border of the former Soviet republic.

"President Biden's been very clear about this. If&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;acts recklessly, or aggressively, there will be costs, there will be consequences," Blinken said.

In recent weeks fighting has intensified between Ukraine's army and pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, with signs of a Russian troop build-up in the region raising concerns of major escalation in the long-running conflict.

Ukraine has accused&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;of amassing thousands of military personnel on its northern and eastern borders as well as on the annexed Crimean peninsula.

The Kremlin, which has not denied the troop movements, said Sunday it was not moving towards war with Ukraine -- but also that it "will not remain indifferent" to the fate of Russian speakers in the conflict-torn region.

The White House this week said the number of Russian troops at the border with Ukraine was now greater than at any time since 2014, when the conflict erupted after&nbsp;Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

The conflict in Ukraine's east has claimed more than 13,000 lives and turned into a nagging problem in Moscow's relations with the West.

Fighting has subsided in the past few years but a diplomatic solution to settle the eastern regions' status has stayed out of reach.

Crimea is still recognized as part of Ukraine by the United Nations, and Kiev vows to one day win it back.

Biden, who previously oversaw Washington's policies on Ukraine, is viewed as a strong ally by Ukrainians and his top diplomat Blinken, in talks this week with his French and German counterparts, agreed on supporting Ukraine against "Russian provocations".

A Ukraine soldier was killed on Sunday and another seriously wounded in artillery fire from Russia-backed separatist rebels, as hostilities rise sharply in the country’s east.

A Ukraine soldier was killed on Sunday and another seriously wounded in artillery fire from Russia-backed separatist rebels, as hostilities rise sharply in the country’s east. As of the reported attack, Ukraine says 27 soldiers have been killed in the east this year, more than half the number who died in all of 2020. Attacks have intensified in recent weeks and Russia has built up troops along the Ukraine border. Britain's Sky News filmed the deployment in the Voronezh area of Russia, close to the border. It said a small camp had been erected near Maslovka train station, where troops and equipment have been arriving. From there, they are being transferred to a nearby training ground, where a military field camp has been erected. Sky said the camp stretched for around one and a half-mile, or almost two and half kilometres. The troops buildup has raised sharp concerns in the West. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in an interview Sunday of "consequences" if Russia acts "aggressively" towards Ukraine, amid rising alarm over a Russian troop build-up on the border of the former Soviet republic. "President Biden's been very clear about this. If Russia acts recklessly, or aggressively, there will be costs, there will be consequences," Blinken said. In recent weeks fighting has intensified between Ukraine's army and pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, with signs of a Russian troop build-up in the region raising concerns of major escalation in the long-running conflict. Ukraine has accused Russia of amassing thousands of military personnel on its northern and eastern borders as well as on the annexed Crimean peninsula. The Kremlin, which has not denied the troop movements, said Sunday it was not moving towards war with Ukraine -- but also that it "will not remain indifferent" to the fate of Russian speakers in the conflict-torn region. The White House this week said the number of Russian troops at the border with Ukraine was now greater than at any time since 2014, when the conflict erupted after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine's east has claimed more than 13,000 lives and turned into a nagging problem in Moscow's relations with the West. Fighting has subsided in the past few years but a diplomatic solution to settle the eastern regions' status has stayed out of reach. Crimea is still recognized as part of Ukraine by the United Nations, and Kiev vows to one day win it back. Biden, who previously oversaw Washington's policies on Ukraine, is viewed as a strong ally by Ukrainians and his top diplomat Blinken, in talks this week with his French and German counterparts, agreed on supporting Ukraine against "Russian provocations".

Russian military spotted near Ukraine border after US warning

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia has demanded ''concrete answers'' on security from NATO to end Ukraine stand-off.

''We are not negotiating from a position of strength, there is not and nor can there be any place for ultimatums here," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"The situation has simply reached such a critical point in terms of pan-European security and the national interests of our country...that we cannot delay further and the concerns we have voiced need concrete answers."

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Senior NATO and Russian officials are trying to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences over the future of Ukraine, amid deep skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security proposals for easing tensions are genuine.

Both sides remain wedded to their starting positions, and have begun a round of tense diplomacy with some 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine's frontier.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/slew-of-disputes-between-former-cold-war-adversaries-us-and-russia-443661">Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia</a>

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that “it is a timely opportunity for dialogue at a critical moment for European security. When tensions are high, it is even more important that we sit down around the same table and address our concerns.”

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today’s meeting of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NATO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NATO</a>–<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Russia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Russia</a> Council is underway. It is a timely opportunity for dialogue at a critical moment for European security. When tensions are high, it is even more important that we sit down around the same table and address our concerns. <a href="https://t.co/Ek8ey05aGL">pic.twitter.com/Ek8ey05aGL</a>
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/jensstoltenberg/status/1481196394534813698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The West defends NATO's "open-door policy" towards potential future members like Ukraine and Georgia, while Moscow is demanding a cast-iron guarantee that the alliance will not expand further towards its territory.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/rebel-held-regions-of-eastern-ukraine-are-growing-closer-to-russia-437500">Rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine are growing closer to Russia</a>

"It's too early to tell whether the Russians are serious about the path to diplomacy or not, or if they're prepared to negotiate seriously -- we are," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

US President Joe Biden's spokeswoman insisted: "NATO'S relationship with Ukraine is a matter only for Ukraine and the 30 NATO allies, not for other countries to determine."

NATO allies say that many of Russia's demands, laid out in two draft treaties in December, are unacceptable, including calls to scale back the alliance's activities to 1990s levels and promise not to take in new members.

The NATO-Russia Council, their chief forum for talks, was set up two decades ago but full meetings paused when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. It has met only sporadically since, the last time in July 2019. 
&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia has demanded ''concrete answers'' on security from NATO to end Ukraine stand-off. ''We are not negotiating from a position of strength, there is not and nor can there be any place for ultimatums here," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia has demanded ''concrete answers'' on security from NATO to end Ukraine stand-off. ''We are not negotiating from a position of strength, there is not and nor can there be any place for ultimatums here," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "The situation has simply reached such a critical point in terms of pan-European security and the national interests of our country...that we cannot delay further and the concerns we have voiced need concrete answers." Senior NATO and Russian officials are trying to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences over the future of Ukraine, amid deep skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security proposals for easing tensions are genuine. Both sides remain wedded to their starting positions, and have begun a round of tense diplomacy with some 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine's frontier. Also see | Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that “it is a timely opportunity for dialogue at a critical moment for European security. When tensions are high, it is even more important that we sit down around the same table and address our concerns.” Today’s meeting of the #NATO–#Russia Council is underway. It is a timely opportunity for dialogue at a critical moment for European security. When tensions are high, it is even more important that we sit down around the same table and address our concerns. pic.twitter.com/Ek8ey05aGL — Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) January 12, 2022 × The West defends NATO's "open-door policy" towards potential future members like Ukraine and Georgia, while Moscow is demanding a cast-iron guarantee that the alliance will not expand further towards its territory. Also see | Rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine are growing closer to Russia "It's too early to tell whether the Russians are serious about the path to diplomacy or not, or if they're prepared to negotiate seriously -- we are," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. US President Joe Biden's spokeswoman insisted: "NATO'S relationship with Ukraine is a matter only for Ukraine and the 30 NATO allies, not for other countries to determine." NATO allies say that many of Russia's demands, laid out in two draft treaties in December, are unacceptable, including calls to scale back the alliance's activities to 1990s levels and promise not to take in new members. The NATO-Russia Council, their chief forum for talks, was set up two decades ago but full meetings paused when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. It has met only sporadically since, the last time in July 2019. (With inputs from agencies)

Russia demands 'concrete answers' on security from NATO to end Ukraine stand-off

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russia of "severe costs" if it launches a further attack on Ukraine.

It comes after senior US and Russian officials launched special talks Monday aimed at defusing tensions over a Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity in Europe this week.

"I don't think we can expect that these meetings will solve all the issues. What we are hoping for is that we can agree on a way forward, that we can agree on a series of meetings, that we can agree on a process," Stoltenberg told a news conference alongside Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna.

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"We are working hard for a peaceful political path and we are ready to continue to work with Russia to try to find that path towards a peaceful solution."

"We are aiming for an agreement on a way forward, a process, a series of meetings," he said.&nbsp;

"At the same time, we need to be prepared that Russia once again chooses to use armed force, chooses confrontation instead of cooperation," he added.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/slew-of-disputes-between-former-cold-war-adversaries-us-and-russia-443661">Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia</a>

Moscow has sought to wrest a string of concessions from the US&nbsp;and its Western allies, including guarantees that NATO will no longer expand eastward into former Soviet states like Ukraine, along whose border Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops in steps that have raised concerns about a possible military intervention there.

The United States and NATO say large parts of the Russian proposals are non-starters and Stefanishyna said Russia's demands for security guarantees were no basis for negotiations.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ukraine-crisis-russia-says-preliminary-talks-with-us-in-geneva-complex-but-businesslike-443468" hreflang="en">Ukraine crisis: Russia says preliminary talks with US in Geneva 'complex but businesslike'</a>

"Russia demands unconditional surrender, demands to undermine the basic principles of functioning of the democratic countries and the principles of NATO," she said.&nbsp;

"We should all realise that Russia's demands to allies cannot be considered as a negotiating position."&nbsp;

"(The) aggressor is not in a position to put conditions until the Russian tanks are out of Ukrainian border."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and his delegation arrived under Swiss police escort at the US&nbsp;diplomatic mission in Geneva for face-to-face talks with Wendy Sherman, the US deputy secretary of state, and her team.&nbsp;

The meeting is part of “Strategic Security Dialogue” talks on arms control and other broad issues launched by Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin during a June summit in the Swiss city.

 
(With inputs from agencies)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russia of "severe costs" if it launches a further attack on Ukraine. It comes after senior US and Russian officials launched special talks Monday aimed at defusing tensions over a Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity in Europe this week.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russia of "severe costs" if it launches a further attack on Ukraine. It comes after senior US and Russian officials launched special talks Monday aimed at defusing tensions over a Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity in Europe this week. "I don't think we can expect that these meetings will solve all the issues. What we are hoping for is that we can agree on a way forward, that we can agree on a series of meetings, that we can agree on a process," Stoltenberg told a news conference alongside Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna. "We are working hard for a peaceful political path and we are ready to continue to work with Russia to try to find that path towards a peaceful solution." "We are aiming for an agreement on a way forward, a process, a series of meetings," he said. "At the same time, we need to be prepared that Russia once again chooses to use armed force, chooses confrontation instead of cooperation," he added. Also see | Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia Moscow has sought to wrest a string of concessions from the US and its Western allies, including guarantees that NATO will no longer expand eastward into former Soviet states like Ukraine, along whose border Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops in steps that have raised concerns about a possible military intervention there. The United States and NATO say large parts of the Russian proposals are non-starters and Stefanishyna said Russia's demands for security guarantees were no basis for negotiations. Also read | Ukraine crisis: Russia says preliminary talks with US in Geneva 'complex but businesslike' "Russia demands unconditional surrender, demands to undermine the basic principles of functioning of the democratic countries and the principles of NATO," she said. "We should all realise that Russia's demands to allies cannot be considered as a negotiating position." "(The) aggressor is not in a position to put conditions until the Russian tanks are out of Ukrainian border." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and his delegation arrived under Swiss police escort at the US diplomatic mission in Geneva for face-to-face talks with Wendy Sherman, the US deputy secretary of state, and her team. The meeting is part of “Strategic Security Dialogue” talks on arms control and other broad issues launched by Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin during a June summit in the Swiss city. (With inputs from agencies)

Russia-Ukraine conflict: NATO chief warns Moscow of 'severe costs' if Kiev attacked

Amid tensions with Ukraine, President Vladimir&nbsp;Putin on Friday announced the country's defence forces had test-launched the Tsirkon hypersonic missile system.

"This morning, the Tsirkon hypersonic system was salvo-launched. This is our latest missile that can strike both naval and ground targets," President Putin said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amid-tensions-with-ukraine-russia-plans-urgent-burial-of-corpses-report-439597">Also Read |&nbsp;Amid tensions with Ukraine, Russia plans 'urgent burial of corpses': Report</a>

The Russian president said the launch was aimed at "enhancing Russia’s security and defence capability". &nbsp;"Tests were successful and impeccable," the Russian president added.

The move comes as tensions continue on the Ukraine border amid repeated warning from the US that Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border.

Meanwhile, Russia's news agency TASS quoting a local newspaper reported that Russian troops are set to receive Very Short-Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) Gibka-S systems next year. The Gibka-S system was tested by Russian forces two years ago.

Watch:&nbsp;Ready to engage in diplomacy with Russia, says US

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Reports say the Gibka-S missiles can intercept drones, cruise missiles and high-precision weapons at low and&nbsp;limited visibility.

In a bid to de-escalate tensions, Russia's foreign ministry said its officials are ready for "direct dialogue" with NATO on security guarantees.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amid-tensions-with-ukraine-russia-plans-urgent-burial-of-corpses-report-439597">Also Read:&nbsp;Ukraine conducts military drill with US-made anti-tank missiles</a>

NATO chief &nbsp;Jens Stoltenberg had offered to start talks with Russian officials year next year without setting a date to discuss the situation in Ukraine.&nbsp;

Russia had earlier submitted a document on security guarantees to NATO and the US underling its concerns while emphasising that the Western military alliance should not extend its influence in the east and desist from giving NATO membership to former Soviet block countries referring to Ukraine.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Amid tensions with Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin on Friday announced the country's defence forces had test-launched the Tsirkon hypersonic missile system. "This morning, the Tsirkon hypersonic system was salvo-launched.

Amid tensions with Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin on Friday announced the country's defence forces had test-launched the Tsirkon hypersonic missile system. "This morning, the Tsirkon hypersonic system was salvo-launched. This is our latest missile that can strike both naval and ground targets," President Putin said. Also Read | Amid tensions with Ukraine, Russia plans 'urgent burial of corpses': Report The Russian president said the launch was aimed at "enhancing Russia’s security and defence capability". "Tests were successful and impeccable," the Russian president added. The move comes as tensions continue on the Ukraine border amid repeated warning from the US that Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. Meanwhile, Russia's news agency TASS quoting a local newspaper reported that Russian troops are set to receive Very Short-Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) Gibka-S systems next year. The Gibka-S system was tested by Russian forces two years ago. Watch: Ready to engage in diplomacy with Russia, says US Reports say the Gibka-S missiles can intercept drones, cruise missiles and high-precision weapons at low and limited visibility. In a bid to de-escalate tensions, Russia's foreign ministry said its officials are ready for "direct dialogue" with NATO on security guarantees. Also Read: Ukraine conducts military drill with US-made anti-tank missiles NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg had offered to start talks with Russian officials year next year without setting a date to discuss the situation in Ukraine. Russia had earlier submitted a document on security guarantees to NATO and the US underling its concerns while emphasising that the Western military alliance should not extend its influence in the east and desist from giving NATO membership to former Soviet block countries referring to Ukraine. (With inputs from Agencies)

Amid row with Ukraine, Russia tests Tsirkon hypersonic missile system

Amid tensions at the border with Ukraine, Russian President Putin said that US and NATO's missile systems including the hypersonic weapons were a "serious challenge" to the country's security.

"If our Western colleagues continue their aggressive course of action, we will take adequate military and technical actions in response," Putin said adding that Russia has "every right to do so".

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/rebel-held-regions-of-eastern-ukraine-are-growing-closer-to-russia-437500">Also Read in Pics: Rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine are growing closer to Russia</a>

Ukraine has been warning that Russia has massed thousands of troops on its border with the intention of invading the country. The EU and the US have repeatedly been warning of "massive consequences" if Russia attacked Ukraine.

"We have every right to take actions aimed to ensure the security and sovereignty of Russia," Putin asserted even as the Russian president added that he had proposed negotiations with President Joe Biden.

Watch:&nbsp;Russia warns of advanced military action

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Putin said increased tension in Europe was "their fault". The Russian president said with every step the situation has been "getting worse, worse, worse and degraded and degraded" referring to the situation at the border with Ukine.&nbsp;

"Today, we are in such a situation where we are forced to make a decision," Putin said. The Russian president said the buildup of NATO forces next to Russian borders was of "great concern" including "large-scale military drills".

"We are extremely worried about deploying the United States' global missile defence system near Russia," Putin said. In a document submitted to the US government and NATO last week, Putin's regime had asked the Biden administration not to induct former Soviet block countries into its military alliance.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-will-happen-if-russian-troops-invade-ukraine-431684">Also Read in Pics: What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine?</a>

Ukraine&nbsp;President Volodymyr Zelensky however has expressed frustration over NATO's reluctance to speed up its membership into the alliance. Zelensky said his country wants to become a NATO member by next year.

Amid tensions, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration would provide &nbsp;"additional defensive material" in case Russia decides to invade Ukraine which involves&nbsp;material "above and beyond" which is already being provided.&nbsp;

(With inputs from Agencies)

Amid tensions at the border with Ukraine, Russian President Putin said that US and NATO's missile systems including the hypersonic weapons were a "serious challenge" to the country's security.

Amid tensions at the border with Ukraine, Russian President Putin said that US and NATO's missile systems including the hypersonic weapons were a "serious challenge" to the country's security. "If our Western colleagues continue their aggressive course of action, we will take adequate military and technical actions in response," Putin said adding that Russia has "every right to do so". Also Read in Pics: Rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine are growing closer to Russia Ukraine has been warning that Russia has massed thousands of troops on its border with the intention of invading the country. The EU and the US have repeatedly been warning of "massive consequences" if Russia attacked Ukraine. "We have every right to take actions aimed to ensure the security and sovereignty of Russia," Putin asserted even as the Russian president added that he had proposed negotiations with President Joe Biden. Watch: Russia warns of advanced military action Putin said increased tension in Europe was "their fault". The Russian president said with every step the situation has been "getting worse, worse, worse and degraded and degraded" referring to the situation at the border with Ukine. "Today, we are in such a situation where we are forced to make a decision," Putin said. The Russian president said the buildup of NATO forces next to Russian borders was of "great concern" including "large-scale military drills". "We are extremely worried about deploying the United States' global missile defence system near Russia," Putin said. In a document submitted to the US government and NATO last week, Putin's regime had asked the Biden administration not to induct former Soviet block countries into its military alliance. Also Read in Pics: What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine? Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky however has expressed frustration over NATO's reluctance to speed up its membership into the alliance. Zelensky said his country wants to become a NATO member by next year. Amid tensions, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration would provide "additional defensive material" in case Russia decides to invade Ukraine which involves material "above and beyond" which is already being provided. (With inputs from Agencies)

We have every right to take action aimed to ensure security, says Putin on tensions with Ukraine

Amid tensions with Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said it has been tracking&nbsp;French Navy’s missile frigate Auvergne after&nbsp;it entered the Black Sea.

The French ship specialises in anti-submarine warfare. Last week the Russian defence ministry had said its Air Force jets had escorted American and French planes over the Black Sea.

As tensions have mounted over Ukraine with reports claiming Russian has amassed thousands of troops at the border, President Putin called for talks with NATO and the US to ensure "international legal guarantees" for Russia's security.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-will-happen-if-russian-troops-invade-ukraine-431684">Also Read in Pics:&nbsp;What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine?</a>

Putin reiterated his message for talks during his phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Russia wants NATO not to expand into its eastern border as tensions have escalated with Ukraine. President Putin had spoken to US President Biden over a video link last week as the US president threatened to impose large scale sanctions against Russia if it attacked Ukraine.

Watch:&nbsp;Russia threatens to deploy nuclear missiles in Europe

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Meanwhile, Ukraine accused Germany of preventing the shipment of anti-drone rifles and anti-sniper systems from NATO.&nbsp;

President Volodymyr Zelensky's government has repeatedly asserted that Putin's regime is set to invade the country, a claim denied by Kremlin which says it is free to move its troops anywhere within its territory.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ukraine-invasion-would-be-a-costly-mistake-boris-johnson-warns-putin-436696">Also Read:&nbsp;Ukraine invasion would be a costly mistake, Boris Johnson warns Putin</a>

Amid heightened tensions, Ukraine's parliament approved a draft law to allow foreign troops to take part in military exercises in the country. Ukraine is planning to hold large military exercises next year.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Amid tensions with Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said it has been tracking French Navy’s missile frigate Auvergne after it entered the Black Sea. The French ship specialises in anti-submarine warfare.

Amid tensions with Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said it has been tracking French Navy’s missile frigate Auvergne after it entered the Black Sea. The French ship specialises in anti-submarine warfare. Last week the Russian defence ministry had said its Air Force jets had escorted American and French planes over the Black Sea. As tensions have mounted over Ukraine with reports claiming Russian has amassed thousands of troops at the border, President Putin called for talks with NATO and the US to ensure "international legal guarantees" for Russia's security. Also Read in Pics: What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine? Putin reiterated his message for talks during his phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron. Russia wants NATO not to expand into its eastern border as tensions have escalated with Ukraine. President Putin had spoken to US President Biden over a video link last week as the US president threatened to impose large scale sanctions against Russia if it attacked Ukraine. Watch: Russia threatens to deploy nuclear missiles in Europe Meanwhile, Ukraine accused Germany of preventing the shipment of anti-drone rifles and anti-sniper systems from NATO. President Volodymyr Zelensky's government has repeatedly asserted that Putin's regime is set to invade the country, a claim denied by Kremlin which says it is free to move its troops anywhere within its territory. Also Read: Ukraine invasion would be a costly mistake, Boris Johnson warns Putin Amid heightened tensions, Ukraine's parliament approved a draft law to allow foreign troops to take part in military exercises in the country. Ukraine is planning to hold large military exercises next year. (With inputs from Agencies)

Russia tracks French warship in Black Sea amid Ukraine tensions

As the United States issued warnings last month about the Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders and President Joe Biden threatened President Vladimir Putin with sanctions if he launched an invasion, researchers noticed an uptick in social media posts accusing Ukraine of plotting a genocide against ethnic Russians.

In one example, an arm of the Moscow-controlled broadcaster RT circulated a clip of Putin saying that events in eastern Ukraine “resemble genocide.” News Front, which the State Department has called a disinformation outlet with ties to Russian security services, followed with an article Dec. 13 that said the United States did not consider the massacres to be a genocide.

In the months since the Russian troop buildup began, Moscow and its online army of allies have pushed out old arguments about western Ukrainians being aligned with Nazism, falsely accused the United States of using proxy forces to plot a chemical attack and claimed that Russia’s planned military operations were intended to protect ethnic Russians or preempt action by NATO, according to researchers.

U.S. intelligence officials said Russia had produced a steady stream of disinformation about Ukraine since 2014. But they observed an uptick in December and January as Moscow increased pressure on the government in Kyiv.

Technology firm Logically, a British-based company that helps governments and businesses counter disinformation, has been tracking Russian-aligned social media accounts, such as those of RT and Sputnik, along with Twitter accounts of Russian officials.

Posts and articles accusing some Ukrainians of being neo-Nazis have dramatically increased since early November, according to Logically. The Moscow-backed information campaign accusing the United States of planning a chemical attack spiked Dec. 21, the firm said.

Much of the propaganda is aimed at a domestic audience in Russia and at pro-Moscow Ukrainians, said Brian Murphy, the vice president for strategic operations at Logically. If Russia does invade Ukraine, he said, it wants to make sure it has the support of Russian speakers in the country as its tanks and artillery roll across fields or knock down houses.

“There are very few fence-sitters left in Ukraine,” Murphy said. “They are trying to strengthen support in the separatist-occupied regions of Ukraine and within Russia.”

But the propaganda can easily move beyond a Russian-speaking audience.

Intelligence officials have said that while Russia is unlikely to change many minds in Europe, its messaging has had more traction in South America and Africa, muddying the waters about which country is responsible for the Ukraine crisis.

Much like its efforts to divide the American electorate in 2016 by stoking debates about racism, guns and other divisive issues, Russia is trying to increase polarization in Ukraine to give it a tactical advantage, Murphy said.

The State Department said in a fact sheet issued last week that much of the disinformation repeated old themes, such as portraying Russia as a victim of U.S. actions, depicting Western societies as on the verge of collapse because they have moved away from traditional values, and describing Washington as the supporter of revolutions in the region.

Researchers have tracked similar themes coming from Russian accounts, including a rise in posts claiming that NATO and Ukrainian forces are preparing to attack Russian speakers in Ukraine. Allegations of a NATO intervention in Ukraine first hit a peak in late December before spiking higher in mid-January, according to Logically.

Murphy, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence branch, said that claiming NATO interference in Ukraine has long been a standard line of attack by Moscow.

While it is often difficult to track where a particular piece of disinformation originates, researchers can see when many Russian accounts begin pushing the same narrative.

“It looks like a coordinated campaign,” Murphy said. “They come out, around the same time, with similar messaging.”

The claim that the United States was preparing a chemical attack was originally made by the Russian defence minister. But disinformation experts tracked how various accounts amplified it.

Versions of the statement were recirculated by both state-owned media and websites that the U.S. government has said are used by Russian intelligence services, such as News Front and the Strategic Culture Foundation, said Bret Schafer, the head of the information manipulation team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks disinformation and other efforts aimed at undercutting democratic governments. The timing of the posts was curious, he said.

A few weeks after the posts appeared in December, U.S. officials said that a false flag operation conducted by Russia could be used as an excuse to move troops into Ukraine in the name of protecting the Russian-speaking population.

“One could conceivably view Russian messaging last month as an attempt to muddy the water before their own impending operation,” Schafer said. “Or, in classic propaganda terms, to accuse others of that which you are guilty.”

Larissa Doroshenko, a researcher at Northeastern University, said that Russian disinformation tactics in Ukraine used both falsified stories and those that were true but tangential to current events in order to distort narratives or hide true intentions.

Doroshenko studied Russian disinformation around the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Ukraine and found that even then, Moscow used various means to push narratives.

“We focus on the social media, but it is a multiplatform approach,” she said. “It is social media, but it is also these so-called news websites, these propaganda websites, that present themselves to appeal to regular people.”

Putin took Crimea stealthily, Doroshenko said. But the troop buildup near Ukraine has been anything but hidden.

She said the Russian troop deployments and threats against Ukraine may be as much about stoking nationalistic feelings as they are about muting domestic criticism of Putin’s moves to shut down nonprofit groups like Memorial International, a human rights organization, or groups affiliated with Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader.

“If you can create an external enemy,” she said, “all these issues of what are happening with civic society in Russia are not as important anymore.”

As the United States issued warnings last month about the Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders and President Joe Biden threatened President Vladimir Putin with sanctions if he launched an invasion, researchers noticed an uptick in social media posts accusing Ukraine of plotting a genocide against ethnic Russians.

As the United States issued warnings last month about the Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders and President Joe Biden threatened President Vladimir Putin with sanctions if he launched an invasion, researchers noticed an uptick in social media posts accusing Ukraine of plotting a genocide against ethnic Russians. In one example, an arm of the Moscow-controlled broadcaster RT circulated a clip of Putin saying that events in eastern Ukraine “resemble genocide.” News Front, which the State Department has called a disinformation outlet with ties to Russian security services, followed with an article Dec. 13 that said the United States did not consider the massacres to be a genocide. In the months since the Russian troop buildup began, Moscow and its online army of allies have pushed out old arguments about western Ukrainians being aligned with Nazism, falsely accused the United States of using proxy forces to plot a chemical attack and claimed that Russia’s planned military operations were intended to protect ethnic Russians or preempt action by NATO, according to researchers. U.S. intelligence officials said Russia had produced a steady stream of disinformation about Ukraine since 2014. But they observed an uptick in December and January as Moscow increased pressure on the government in Kyiv. Technology firm Logically, a British-based company that helps governments and businesses counter disinformation, has been tracking Russian-aligned social media accounts, such as those of RT and Sputnik, along with Twitter accounts of Russian officials. Posts and articles accusing some Ukrainians of being neo-Nazis have dramatically increased since early November, according to Logically. The Moscow-backed information campaign accusing the United States of planning a chemical attack spiked Dec. 21, the firm said. Much of the propaganda is aimed at a domestic audience in Russia and at pro-Moscow Ukrainians, said Brian Murphy, the vice president for strategic operations at Logically. If Russia does invade Ukraine, he said, it wants to make sure it has the support of Russian speakers in the country as its tanks and artillery roll across fields or knock down houses. “There are very few fence-sitters left in Ukraine,” Murphy said. “They are trying to strengthen support in the separatist-occupied regions of Ukraine and within Russia.” But the propaganda can easily move beyond a Russian-speaking audience. Intelligence officials have said that while Russia is unlikely to change many minds in Europe, its messaging has had more traction in South America and Africa, muddying the waters about which country is responsible for the Ukraine crisis. Much like its efforts to divide the American electorate in 2016 by stoking debates about racism, guns and other divisive issues, Russia is trying to increase polarization in Ukraine to give it a tactical advantage, Murphy said. The State Department said in a fact sheet issued last week that much of the disinformation repeated old themes, such as portraying Russia as a victim of U.S. actions, depicting Western societies as on the verge of collapse because they have moved away from traditional values, and describing Washington as the supporter of revolutions in the region. Researchers have tracked similar themes coming from Russian accounts, including a rise in posts claiming that NATO and Ukrainian forces are preparing to attack Russian speakers in Ukraine. Allegations of a NATO intervention in Ukraine first hit a peak in late December before spiking higher in mid-January, according to Logically. Murphy, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence branch, said that claiming NATO interference in Ukraine has long been a standard line of attack by Moscow. While it is often difficult to track where a particular piece of disinformation originates, researchers can see when many Russian accounts begin pushing the same narrative. “It looks like a coordinated campaign,” Murphy said. “They come out, around the same time, with similar messaging.” The claim that the United States was preparing a chemical attack was originally made by the Russian defence minister. But disinformation experts tracked how various accounts amplified it. Versions of the statement were recirculated by both state-owned media and websites that the U.S. government has said are used by Russian intelligence services, such as News Front and the Strategic Culture Foundation, said Bret Schafer, the head of the information manipulation team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks disinformation and other efforts aimed at undercutting democratic governments. The timing of the posts was curious, he said. A few weeks after the posts appeared in December, U.S. officials said that a false flag operation conducted by Russia could be used as an excuse to move troops into Ukraine in the name of protecting the Russian-speaking population. “One could conceivably view Russian messaging last month as an attempt to muddy the water before their own impending operation,” Schafer said. “Or, in classic propaganda terms, to accuse others of that which you are guilty.” Larissa Doroshenko, a researcher at Northeastern University, said that Russian disinformation tactics in Ukraine used both falsified stories and those that were true but tangential to current events in order to distort narratives or hide true intentions. Doroshenko studied Russian disinformation around the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Ukraine and found that even then, Moscow used various means to push narratives. “We focus on the social media, but it is a multiplatform approach,” she said. “It is social media, but it is also these so-called news websites, these propaganda websites, that present themselves to appeal to regular people.” Putin took Crimea stealthily, Doroshenko said. But the troop buildup near Ukraine has been anything but hidden. She said the Russian troop deployments and threats against Ukraine may be as much about stoking nationalistic feelings as they are about muting domestic criticism of Putin’s moves to shut down nonprofit groups like Memorial International, a human rights organization, or groups affiliated with Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader. “If you can create an external enemy,” she said, “all these issues of what are happening with civic society in Russia are not as important anymore.”

Russia steps up propaganda war amid tensions with Ukraine

Russia has accused Washington and NATO of escalating tensions through "information hysteria" over deployment of troops in Ukraine.

"As for specific actions, we see statements by the North Atlantic Alliance about reinforcement, pulling forces and resources to the eastern flank. All this leads to the fact that tensions are growing," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"This is not happening because of what we, Russia, are doing. This is all happening because of what NATO and the U.S. are doing and due to the information they are spreading."

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He said the West was showing "hysteria" and putting out information "laced with lies".

It comes after the US-led military organisation said that it is beefing up its “deterrence” presence in the Baltic Sea area.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will “take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies.”&nbsp;

He said: “We will always respond to any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening our collective defence.”

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-mulling-to-deploy-thousands-of-troops-to-eastern-europe-baltics-amid-russian-invasion-fears-report-447037" hreflang="en">Biden mulling to deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe, Baltics amid Russian invasion fears: Report</a>

Peskov said Monday that Ukraine was preparing an offensive in the east of the country where Kyiv troops have been fighting pro-Russia separatists since 2014.

"The Ukrainian authorities are concentrating a huge amount of forces and means on the border with the self-proclaimed republics," he said.

"The nature of this concentration speaks of preparations for an offensive," he said, adding the risk of such an operation now "is very high, higher than before."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday warned Russia it risked "a new Chechnya" if it invaded Ukraine, that would cost lives and trigger tough economic sanctions.

"Invading Ukraine, from a Russian perspective, is going to be a painful, violent and bloody business," he said. "It's very important that people in Russia understand this could be a new Chechnya".

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-will-happen-if-russian-troops-invade-ukraine-431684">Also see |&nbsp;What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine?</a>

“We are showing unprecedented unity about the situation in Ukraine, with the strong coordination with the U.S.,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is chairing their meeting, told reporters in Brussels.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it considered the move to send home US&nbsp;diplomats' families as "premature and a manifestation of excessive caution."

"In fact, there have been no cardinal changes in the security situation recently: the threat of new waves of Russian aggression has remained constant since 2014 and the buildup of Russian troops near the state border began in April last year," it said.

Russia denies planning to invade Ukraine but has used its build-up of an estimated 100,000 troops near the border to force the West to negotiate over a range of demands to redraw the security map of Europe.

It wants NATO to scrap a promise to let Ukraine join one day and to pull back troops and weapons from former Communist countries in eastern Europe that joined it after the Cold War.

Washington says those demands are non-starters but it is ready to discuss other ideas on arms control, missile deployments, and confidence-building measures.

(With inputs from agencies)

Russia has accused Washington and NATO of escalating tensions through "information hysteria" over deployment of troops in Ukraine. "As for specific actions, we see statements by the North Atlantic Alliance about reinforcement, pulling forces and resources to the eastern flank.

Russia has accused Washington and NATO of escalating tensions through "information hysteria" over deployment of troops in Ukraine. "As for specific actions, we see statements by the North Atlantic Alliance about reinforcement, pulling forces and resources to the eastern flank. All this leads to the fact that tensions are growing," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "This is not happening because of what we, Russia, are doing. This is all happening because of what NATO and the U.S. are doing and due to the information they are spreading." He said the West was showing "hysteria" and putting out information "laced with lies". It comes after the US-led military organisation said that it is beefing up its “deterrence” presence in the Baltic Sea area. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will “take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies.” He said: “We will always respond to any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening our collective defence.” Also read | Biden mulling to deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe, Baltics amid Russian invasion fears: Report Peskov said Monday that Ukraine was preparing an offensive in the east of the country where Kyiv troops have been fighting pro-Russia separatists since 2014. "The Ukrainian authorities are concentrating a huge amount of forces and means on the border with the self-proclaimed republics," he said. "The nature of this concentration speaks of preparations for an offensive," he said, adding the risk of such an operation now "is very high, higher than before." British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday warned Russia it risked "a new Chechnya" if it invaded Ukraine, that would cost lives and trigger tough economic sanctions. "Invading Ukraine, from a Russian perspective, is going to be a painful, violent and bloody business," he said. "It's very important that people in Russia understand this could be a new Chechnya". Also see | What will happen if Russian troops invade Ukraine? “We are showing unprecedented unity about the situation in Ukraine, with the strong coordination with the U.S.,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is chairing their meeting, told reporters in Brussels. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it considered the move to send home US diplomats' families as "premature and a manifestation of excessive caution." "In fact, there have been no cardinal changes in the security situation recently: the threat of new waves of Russian aggression has remained constant since 2014 and the buildup of Russian troops near the state border began in April last year," it said. Russia denies planning to invade Ukraine but has used its build-up of an estimated 100,000 troops near the border to force the West to negotiate over a range of demands to redraw the security map of Europe. It wants NATO to scrap a promise to let Ukraine join one day and to pull back troops and weapons from former Communist countries in eastern Europe that joined it after the Cold War. Washington says those demands are non-starters but it is ready to discuss other ideas on arms control, missile deployments, and confidence-building measures. (With inputs from agencies)

Russia accuses NATO of escalating Ukraine tensions through 'hysteria' and ramping up deployments

Russia on Sunday rejected the claim made by the UK government saying it did not provide corroboration to back it up.&nbsp;

Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had said Russia is looking to replace the government of Ukraine with a pro-Moscow administration. &nbsp;

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According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, “The disinformation spread by the British Foreign Office is more evidence that it is the NATO countries, led by the Anglo-Saxons, who are escalating tensions around Ukraine.”&nbsp;

“We call on the British Foreign Office to stop provocative activities, stop spreading nonsense.”

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/slew-of-disputes-between-former-cold-war-adversaries-us-and-russia-443661">Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia</a>

The accusations come at the end of a week of intense international diplomacy, which concluded with Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov, Washington and Moscow's top diplomats, agreeing to keep working to ease tensions.

Truss urged Russia to “deescalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy,” and reiterated Britain’s view that “any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs.”

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/rebel-held-regions-of-eastern-ukraine-are-growing-closer-to-russia-437500">Rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine are growing closer to Russia</a>

Amid diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis, UK&nbsp;Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is expected to meet Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu for talks in Moscow.&nbsp;

Tensions have soared in recent weeks as tens of thousands of Russian troops mass on Ukraine's border, along with an arsenal of tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery and missiles.

Russia has put pressure on Ukraine since the 2014 uprising, Moscow seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and a few weeks later a pro-Russian insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine that has since claimed more than 13,000 lives.

(With inputs from agencies)

Russia on Sunday rejected the claim made by the UK government saying it did not provide corroboration to back it up. Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had said Russia is looking to replace the government of Ukraine with a pro-Moscow administration.

Russia on Sunday rejected the claim made by the UK government saying it did not provide corroboration to back it up. Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had said Russia is looking to replace the government of Ukraine with a pro-Moscow administration. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, “The disinformation spread by the British Foreign Office is more evidence that it is the NATO countries, led by the Anglo-Saxons, who are escalating tensions around Ukraine.” “We call on the British Foreign Office to stop provocative activities, stop spreading nonsense.” Also see | Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia The accusations come at the end of a week of intense international diplomacy, which concluded with Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov, Washington and Moscow's top diplomats, agreeing to keep working to ease tensions. Truss urged Russia to “deescalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy,” and reiterated Britain’s view that “any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs.” Also see | Rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine are growing closer to Russia Amid diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is expected to meet Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu for talks in Moscow. Tensions have soared in recent weeks as tens of thousands of Russian troops mass on Ukraine's border, along with an arsenal of tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery and missiles. Russia has put pressure on Ukraine since the 2014 uprising, Moscow seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and a few weeks later a pro-Russian insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine that has since claimed more than 13,000 lives. (With inputs from agencies)

Russia calls UK's claim as 'evidence' that NATO escalating tensions around Ukraine

As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine, the first shipment of assistance sent by the United States to Ukraine arrived in Kyiv, the US Embassy informed on Saturday (January 22).&nbsp;

The first shipment of a $200 million security support package includes aid such as ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine.&nbsp;

The shipment — and $2.7 billion since 2014 — demonstrates US commitment to helping Ukraine bolster its defences in the "face of growing Russian aggression", said the US Embassy in Kyiv tweeted.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/russias-checkmate-why-the-orion-combat-drone-is-a-gamechanger-446455">Russia's 'checkmate': Why the Orion combat drone is a gamechanger</a>

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The first shipment of assistance recently directed by President Biden to Ukraine arrived in Ukraine tonight. This shipment includes close to 
200,000 pounds of lethal aid, including ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine. [1/2] <a href="https://t.co/YeYanK0Px6">pic.twitter.com/YeYanK0Px6</a>
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) <a href="https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1484709938807070721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The aid comes amid the Western countries, including the US are trying to de-escalate the tensions after Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops on its borders with Ukraine.&nbsp;

The Western states fear Moscow is planning a new assault on a country it invaded in 2014. However, Russia denies planning a new military offensive.&nbsp;

The aid has arrived in Ukraine after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv this week. In reply, Ukraine’s defence minister thanked the United States for the aid.

Germany will not supply weapons to Kyiv

Meanwhile, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht has said that Berlin will not deliver arms to Ukraine in the standoff with Russia for now. She said it in an interview published on Saturday, a few days after Britain started supplying Kyiv with anti-tank weapons.

"I can understand the wish to support Ukraine, and that's exactly what we are doing already," Lambrecht told the Welt am Sonntag weekly.

"We have to do everything to de-escalate. Currently, arms deliveries would not be helpful in this respect, there is agreement on this in the German government," Lambrecht said.&nbsp;

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&nbsp;

As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine, the first shipment of assistance sent by the United States to Ukraine arrived in Kyiv, the US Embassy informed on Saturday (January 22).

As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine, the first shipment of assistance sent by the United States to Ukraine arrived in Kyiv, the US Embassy informed on Saturday (January 22). The first shipment of a $200 million security support package includes aid such as ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine. The shipment — and $2.7 billion since 2014 — demonstrates US commitment to helping Ukraine bolster its defences in the "face of growing Russian aggression", said the US Embassy in Kyiv tweeted. ALSO READ | Russia's 'checkmate': Why the Orion combat drone is a gamechanger The first shipment of assistance recently directed by President Biden to Ukraine arrived in Ukraine tonight. This shipment includes close to 200,000 pounds of lethal aid, including ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine. [1/2] pic.twitter.com/YeYanK0Px6 — U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) January 22, 2022 × The aid comes amid the Western countries, including the US are trying to de-escalate the tensions after Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops on its borders with Ukraine. The Western states fear Moscow is planning a new assault on a country it invaded in 2014. However, Russia denies planning a new military offensive. The aid has arrived in Ukraine after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv this week. In reply, Ukraine’s defence minister thanked the United States for the aid. Germany will not supply weapons to Kyiv Meanwhile, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht has said that Berlin will not deliver arms to Ukraine in the standoff with Russia for now. She said it in an interview published on Saturday, a few days after Britain started supplying Kyiv with anti-tank weapons. "I can understand the wish to support Ukraine, and that's exactly what we are doing already," Lambrecht told the Welt am Sonntag weekly. "We have to do everything to de-escalate. Currently, arms deliveries would not be helpful in this respect, there is agreement on this in the German government," Lambrecht said. ×

First part of US defence aid arrives in Ukraine; Germany will not supply weapons to Kyiv for now

The week before intensive diplomatic meetings began over the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, U.S. and Ukrainian officials watched from afar as Russia began emptying out its embassy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

On January&nbsp;5, 18 people -&nbsp;mostly the children and wives of Russian diplomats -&nbsp;boarded buses and embarked on a 15-hour drive home to Moscow, according to a senior Ukrainian security official.

About 30 more followed in the next few days, from Kyiv and a consulate in Lviv, in western Ukraine. Diplomats at two other Russian consulates have been told to prepare to leave Ukraine, the security official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters.

How to interpret the evacuation has become part of the mystery of divining the next play by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Thinning out the Russian Embassy may be part propaganda, part preparation for a looming conflict or part feint, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say. It could be all three.

In recent days, the slow departures — which the Russians most likely knew that the Americans and the Ukrainians would see — have become part of the puzzle of what happens next.

They are a more ominous data point, in addition to cyberattacks on Ukrainian ministries last week, and reports from Microsoft and the US&nbsp;government that far more destructive malware has been planted in Ukrainian networks but not activated.

Enormous train convoys loaded with tanks, missiles and troops continue to push west through Russia, apparently heading for the Ukrainian border. Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, announced Monday that Russian forces and equipment had begun arriving in his country for a joint military exercise that would be held in two places: on Belarus’ western edge, near Poland and Lithuania, two NATO countries; and along the Ukrainian border, which could prove another pathway for invasion.

The exercise has been given a very American-sounding name: Allied Resolve. But in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials fully expect any Russian troops deployed to Belarus for the exercises to remain in place indefinitely, leaving Ukraine open to attack from the north, the east and the south.

“We’ll be fully surrounded by equal forces,” the senior Ukrainian security official said.

In Washington, US&nbsp;officials say they still assess that Putin has not yet made a decision to invade. They describe him as more a tactician than a grand strategist, and they believe that he is constantly weighing a host of different factors.

Among them is how well he could weather the threatened sanctions on his banks and industry, and whether his demands that Ukraine stop veering toward NATO -&nbsp;and that NATO stop spreading toward Russia -&nbsp;are receiving enough attention.

But the U.S. officials say Putin may also have concluded that with the United States and other countries arming Ukraine, his military advantage is at risk of slipping away. Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, announced in an address to Parliament on Monday that the country would begin providing Ukraine with light, anti-armour defensive weapons. Putin may become tempted to act sooner rather than later.

US&nbsp;officials saw Russia’s embassy evacuations coming. “We have information that indicates the Russian government was preparing to evacuate their family members from the Russian Embassy in Ukraine in late December and early January,” a US&nbsp;official said in a statement.

Ukrainian officials say they saw the Russians leave.

But that leaves open the question of what, if anything, the Russians were signalling.

It is possible they were trying to bolster the case that the U.S. and its Western allies should take seriously their demands that Ukraine can never join NATO, and that troops, nuclear weapons and other heavy weaponry must be removed from former Warsaw Pact states, like Poland, that were once allied with the Soviet Union.

It could also be that the Russians were trying to indicate that an attack was brewing, though there were no other signals. In fact, the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border is not increasing at a rate that Pentagon officials expected a month ago.

The latest US&nbsp;estimates are that about 60 battalion tactical groups, known as BTGs and each with an average of 800 soldiers, are now in place at the border with Ukraine. Combined with other local forces, the Russians have about 77,000 troops at the border, with more on the way. Others put the figure at closer to 100,000 — much depends on how different forces are counted — but that is well short of the Pentagon’s estimate more than a month ago that the total number could rise to 175,000.

US&nbsp;and European intelligence and military officials say Putin may be waiting for the ground to freeze, making it easier to get heavy equipment over the border. Or he may be building up slowly, for diplomatic advantage, as he awaits a written reply from the Biden administration and NATO to his demands that they roll back NATO’s military posture to what it was 15 years ago — much farther from Russia’s borders.

While US&nbsp;officials still believe Putin is undecided about his next move, officials in Kyiv are assessing what an attack may look like, if it happens. It could come in the form of a full-on invasion, the Ukrainian security official said. Or Russia could launch a cyberattack on the Ukrainian energy grid — far larger than the ones conducted in 2015 and 2016 — combined with the military escalation in Ukraine’s east, where Russian-backed separatist forces remain deeply entrenched.

No one but the leaders in the Kremlin seem to know for sure how the next days and weeks might play out.

Against this backdrop, a senior delegation of U.S. senators arrived in Kyiv on Monday. Their trip followed a visit to Kyiv last Wednesday by CIA Director William J. Burns, who consulted with intelligence officials and met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss efforts to de-escalate tensions with Moscow, a US&nbsp;official said. Burns’ trip was reported earlier by CNN.

The senators' visit was a bipartisan show of support from Ukraine’s most powerful ally, even if they brought few specific proposals for staving off a Russian attack.

“Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, and the actions that they are planning today, represent the most serious assault on the post-World War II order in our lifetime,” Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, said at a news conference in Kyiv.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and instigated a violent separatist uprising that effectively cleaved away two Ukrainian provinces. More than 13,000 people were killed in the fighting.

At the news conference, Murphy said he hoped legislation that outlines punishing sanctions against Russia’s leadership, including Putin, would reach President Joe Biden’s desk before any Russian action and possibly help deter it. In a meeting with the senators late Monday, Zelenskyy urged them to impose sanctions quickly “to counter the aggression” from Russia.

The senators’ pledges to defend democracy and vanquish tyranny seemed a throwback to the Cold War. Indeed, observers have argued that Putin’s threats against Ukraine are rooted in a desire to reconstitute a Moscow-led Eastern bloc reminiscent of Soviet times.

Similarly, Lukashenko, the Belarusian leader who is close to Putin, made his own argument that the Russians were responding to the Americans.

“What are the Americans doing here?” Lukashenko said. “There are these hotheads who are calling for war.”

It is possibly in that spirit that Russian troops will begin military exercises in Belarus next month. Security officials fear that the exercises could become a pretext for long-term deployment of Russian forces in the former Soviet republic, which shares a lengthy western border with the European Union and NATO.

Lukashenko has pledged to follow Putin’s lead on any action in Ukraine.

The week before intensive diplomatic meetings began over the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, U.S. and Ukrainian officials watched from afar as Russia began emptying out its embassy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

The week before intensive diplomatic meetings began over the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, U.S. and Ukrainian officials watched from afar as Russia began emptying out its embassy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. On January 5, 18 people - mostly the children and wives of Russian diplomats - boarded buses and embarked on a 15-hour drive home to Moscow, according to a senior Ukrainian security official. About 30 more followed in the next few days, from Kyiv and a consulate in Lviv, in western Ukraine. Diplomats at two other Russian consulates have been told to prepare to leave Ukraine, the security official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters. How to interpret the evacuation has become part of the mystery of divining the next play by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Thinning out the Russian Embassy may be part propaganda, part preparation for a looming conflict or part feint, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say. It could be all three. In recent days, the slow departures — which the Russians most likely knew that the Americans and the Ukrainians would see — have become part of the puzzle of what happens next. They are a more ominous data point, in addition to cyberattacks on Ukrainian ministries last week, and reports from Microsoft and the US government that far more destructive malware has been planted in Ukrainian networks but not activated. Enormous train convoys loaded with tanks, missiles and troops continue to push west through Russia, apparently heading for the Ukrainian border. Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, announced Monday that Russian forces and equipment had begun arriving in his country for a joint military exercise that would be held in two places: on Belarus’ western edge, near Poland and Lithuania, two NATO countries; and along the Ukrainian border, which could prove another pathway for invasion. The exercise has been given a very American-sounding name: Allied Resolve. But in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials fully expect any Russian troops deployed to Belarus for the exercises to remain in place indefinitely, leaving Ukraine open to attack from the north, the east and the south. “We’ll be fully surrounded by equal forces,” the senior Ukrainian security official said. In Washington, US officials say they still assess that Putin has not yet made a decision to invade. They describe him as more a tactician than a grand strategist, and they believe that he is constantly weighing a host of different factors. Among them is how well he could weather the threatened sanctions on his banks and industry, and whether his demands that Ukraine stop veering toward NATO - and that NATO stop spreading toward Russia - are receiving enough attention. But the U.S. officials say Putin may also have concluded that with the United States and other countries arming Ukraine, his military advantage is at risk of slipping away. Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, announced in an address to Parliament on Monday that the country would begin providing Ukraine with light, anti-armour defensive weapons. Putin may become tempted to act sooner rather than later. US officials saw Russia’s embassy evacuations coming. “We have information that indicates the Russian government was preparing to evacuate their family members from the Russian Embassy in Ukraine in late December and early January,” a US official said in a statement. Ukrainian officials say they saw the Russians leave. But that leaves open the question of what, if anything, the Russians were signalling. It is possible they were trying to bolster the case that the U.S. and its Western allies should take seriously their demands that Ukraine can never join NATO, and that troops, nuclear weapons and other heavy weaponry must be removed from former Warsaw Pact states, like Poland, that were once allied with the Soviet Union. It could also be that the Russians were trying to indicate that an attack was brewing, though there were no other signals. In fact, the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border is not increasing at a rate that Pentagon officials expected a month ago. The latest US estimates are that about 60 battalion tactical groups, known as BTGs and each with an average of 800 soldiers, are now in place at the border with Ukraine. Combined with other local forces, the Russians have about 77,000 troops at the border, with more on the way. Others put the figure at closer to 100,000 — much depends on how different forces are counted — but that is well short of the Pentagon’s estimate more than a month ago that the total number could rise to 175,000. US and European intelligence and military officials say Putin may be waiting for the ground to freeze, making it easier to get heavy equipment over the border. Or he may be building up slowly, for diplomatic advantage, as he awaits a written reply from the Biden administration and NATO to his demands that they roll back NATO’s military posture to what it was 15 years ago — much farther from Russia’s borders. While US officials still believe Putin is undecided about his next move, officials in Kyiv are assessing what an attack may look like, if it happens. It could come in the form of a full-on invasion, the Ukrainian security official said. Or Russia could launch a cyberattack on the Ukrainian energy grid — far larger than the ones conducted in 2015 and 2016 — combined with the military escalation in Ukraine’s east, where Russian-backed separatist forces remain deeply entrenched. No one but the leaders in the Kremlin seem to know for sure how the next days and weeks might play out. Against this backdrop, a senior delegation of U.S. senators arrived in Kyiv on Monday. Their trip followed a visit to Kyiv last Wednesday by CIA Director William J. Burns, who consulted with intelligence officials and met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss efforts to de-escalate tensions with Moscow, a US official said. Burns’ trip was reported earlier by CNN. The senators' visit was a bipartisan show of support from Ukraine’s most powerful ally, even if they brought few specific proposals for staving off a Russian attack. “Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, and the actions that they are planning today, represent the most serious assault on the post-World War II order in our lifetime,” Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, said at a news conference in Kyiv. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and instigated a violent separatist uprising that effectively cleaved away two Ukrainian provinces. More than 13,000 people were killed in the fighting. At the news conference, Murphy said he hoped legislation that outlines punishing sanctions against Russia’s leadership, including Putin, would reach President Joe Biden’s desk before any Russian action and possibly help deter it. In a meeting with the senators late Monday, Zelenskyy urged them to impose sanctions quickly “to counter the aggression” from Russia. The senators’ pledges to defend democracy and vanquish tyranny seemed a throwback to the Cold War. Indeed, observers have argued that Putin’s threats against Ukraine are rooted in a desire to reconstitute a Moscow-led Eastern bloc reminiscent of Soviet times. Similarly, Lukashenko, the Belarusian leader who is close to Putin, made his own argument that the Russians were responding to the Americans. “What are the Americans doing here?” Lukashenko said. “There are these hotheads who are calling for war.” It is possibly in that spirit that Russian troops will begin military exercises in Belarus next month. Security officials fear that the exercises could become a pretext for long-term deployment of Russian forces in the former Soviet republic, which shares a lengthy western border with the European Union and NATO. Lukashenko has pledged to follow Putin’s lead on any action in Ukraine.

Russia thins out its embassy in Ukraine, a possible clue to Putin’s next move

The United States said today that Russia has "prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine" in a bid to escalate the border crisis.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Russia has operatives who are trained in urban warfare and are using "explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia's own proxy forces".

The United States and Kyiv have warned that Russia is set to launch an invasion in Ukraine with thousands of Russian troops massed at the border.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/how-are-hypersonic-missiles-different-is-it-the-new-wonder-weapon-444335#hypersonics-the-new-frontier-in-missile-technology-444327">Also Read in Pics:&nbsp;How are hypersonic missiles different, is it the new 'wonder weapon'?</a>

Psaki declared that Russia is "preparing for an invasion into Ukraine" while "fabricating" a pretext for an invasion.

The White House spokesperson alleged that Russia is carrying out "sabotage activities" by accusing Ukraine of preparing an attack.

"Plans to begin these activities several weeks before a military invasion which could begin between mid-January and mid-February," the White House spokesperson added.

Watch:&nbsp;Attempt at defusing tensions between Russia and Ukraine fails

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Russia however denied the US statements even as Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said intelligence was "very credible".

"They often hybridize their personnel to such a degree that the lines are not necessarily really clear," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/slew-of-disputes-between-former-cold-war-adversaries-us-and-russia-443661">Also Read in Pics:&nbsp;Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia</a>

The latest revelations come even as reports said Ukraine was hit by a major cyberattack as the US said Russia had launched a disinformation campaign with "Ukrainian provocations in state and social media to justify a Russian intervention and sow divisions in Ukraine."&nbsp;

"We saw this playbook in 2014. They are preparing this playbook again," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said referring to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.&nbsp;

(With inputs from Agencies)

The United States said today that Russia has "prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine" in a bid to escalate the border crisis.

The United States said today that Russia has "prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine" in a bid to escalate the border crisis. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Russia has operatives who are trained in urban warfare and are using "explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia's own proxy forces". The United States and Kyiv have warned that Russia is set to launch an invasion in Ukraine with thousands of Russian troops massed at the border. Also Read in Pics: How are hypersonic missiles different, is it the new 'wonder weapon'? Psaki declared that Russia is "preparing for an invasion into Ukraine" while "fabricating" a pretext for an invasion. The White House spokesperson alleged that Russia is carrying out "sabotage activities" by accusing Ukraine of preparing an attack. "Plans to begin these activities several weeks before a military invasion which could begin between mid-January and mid-February," the White House spokesperson added. Watch: Attempt at defusing tensions between Russia and Ukraine fails Russia however denied the US statements even as Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said intelligence was "very credible". "They often hybridize their personnel to such a degree that the lines are not necessarily really clear," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. Also Read in Pics: Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia The latest revelations come even as reports said Ukraine was hit by a major cyberattack as the US said Russia had launched a disinformation campaign with "Ukrainian provocations in state and social media to justify a Russian intervention and sow divisions in Ukraine." "We saw this playbook in 2014. They are preparing this playbook again," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said referring to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. (With inputs from Agencies)

Russia conducting false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine: US

Russian millionaires have lost a total of $28 billion in recent days as the value of Russian firms and the ruble has plummeted in response to rising military conflict concerns.

The Russian stock market has lost about 20% this year alone, and the ruble has fallen to an all-time low of around 80 versus the US dollar as investors flee Russian assets.

According to Forbes, 76 of the 104 Russians on the Forbes Global Billionaires list have seen their fortunes decline since the end of December 2021, owing to the sell-off.

According to the Forbes Real-Time calculator, which measures the assets of high-net-worth individuals based on real share prices and exchange rates, the total loss of wealth is $27.9 billion.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/explained-normandy-format-talks-and-how-it-can-ease-russia-ukraine-crisis-447836">Explained: Normandy Format talks and how it can ease Russia-Ukraine crisis</a>

Investors are concerned about the possibility of a military conflict over Ukraine, and economists predict that Russian assets will remain unpopular until a diplomatic solution is found.

Watch | French President Emmanuel Macron hosts meeting on Ukraine crisis including Germany, Russia

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/french-president-emmanuel-macron-hosts-meeting-on-ukraine-crisis-including-germany-russia-447915/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, two of Russia's wealthiest people associated with the Novatek gas behemoth and Sibur petrochemicals enterprise, were the biggest monetary losers.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

Russian millionaires have lost a total of $28 billion in recent days as the value of Russian firms and the ruble has plummeted in response to rising military conflict concerns.

Russian millionaires have lost a total of $28 billion in recent days as the value of Russian firms and the ruble has plummeted in response to rising military conflict concerns. The Russian stock market has lost about 20% this year alone, and the ruble has fallen to an all-time low of around 80 versus the US dollar as investors flee Russian assets. According to Forbes, 76 of the 104 Russians on the Forbes Global Billionaires list have seen their fortunes decline since the end of December 2021, owing to the sell-off. According to the Forbes Real-Time calculator, which measures the assets of high-net-worth individuals based on real share prices and exchange rates, the total loss of wealth is $27.9 billion. Explained: Normandy Format talks and how it can ease Russia-Ukraine crisis Investors are concerned about the possibility of a military conflict over Ukraine, and economists predict that Russian assets will remain unpopular until a diplomatic solution is found. Watch | French President Emmanuel Macron hosts meeting on Ukraine crisis including Germany, Russia Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, two of Russia's wealthiest people associated with the Novatek gas behemoth and Sibur petrochemicals enterprise, were the biggest monetary losers. (With inputs from agencies)

Russian billionaires lost $28 billion in market sell-off

Russia-Ukraine crisis: Why is Moscow drawing 'red lines' over Kyiv?

How the West can use economic sanctions to target Russia over Ukraine conflict

Russian troops are encircling Ukraine from three sides. In Washington and Brussels, there are warnings of crushing sanctions if Vladimir Putin orders an invasion. Embassy families — both American and Russian — are being evacuated from Kyiv.

Yet there are still diplomatic options — “off-ramps” in the lingo of the negotiators — and in the next several days the Biden administration and NATO are expected to respond, in writing, to Putin’s far-reaching demands.

The question is whether there is real potential for compromise in three distinct areas: Russia’s demand for ironclad assurances that Ukraine won’t enter NATO; that NATO won’t further expand; and that Russia can somehow restore some approximation of its sphere of influence in the region to before the strategic map of Europe was redrawn in the mid-1990s.

The hardest issue of all defies negotiation: Putin’s demand that Ukraine reverse its “drift” toward the West. That is a matter of national sentiment, and polls show that in the years since Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014, Ukrainians are more desirous than ever of joining the Western alliance. Putin’s massing of the troops is likely to accelerate that trend, US&nbsp;officials say, rather than reverse it.

And as in all conflicts with roots in the Cold War and its aftermath, the subtext of any negotiation includes how the world’s two largest nuclear-armed states manage their arsenals — and use them for leverage.

While there is still time to avoid the worst, even President Joe Biden’s top aides say they have no idea if a diplomatic solution, rather than the conquest of Ukraine, is what Putin has in mind. The Russian president views Ukraine not as a separate nation but as a land that was negotiated away after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many who have dealt with Putin believe he now sees it as his mission to correct that error, even if that means risking war to redraw the map of Europe.

Even if the diplomacy is for real, no one is certain how long they have to head off military action. A few weeks? Until the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics, on the theory that Putin would not want to anger President Xi Jinping by starting a war that would divert attention from China’s big moment?

Not all the potential blockades to a solution involve the Russians. If facing down Moscow was once a bipartisan task in Washington, it is no longer. Even before the counterproposals to Russia are finished, Republicans have been using the tensions to portray the administration as offering “appeasement,” a word chosen to evoke images of Britain’s approach to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, trying to blunt the angle of attack, shot back Sunday that “engaging in diplomacy doesn’t take the word ‘nyet’ out of your vocabulary.”

Defusing Ukraine

It is possible that Putin’s bottom line in this conflict is straightforward: that he wants to stop Ukraine from joining NATO and get an assurance that the United States and NATO will never place offensive weapons that threaten Russia’s security in Ukrainian territory.

On those two issues, it would seem, there is trading space. While the United States says it will never abandon the NATO “open door” policy — which means that every nation is free to make its own choice about whether it seeks to join the Western alliance — the reality is clear: Ukraine is so corrupt, and its grasp of democracy is so tenuous, that no one expects it to be accepted for NATO membership in the next decade or two.

On this, Biden has been clear.

“The likelihood that Ukraine is going to join NATO in the near term is not very likely,” he said at a news conference Wednesday, giving voice to a previously unspoken truth. “So there is room to work if he wants to do that.”

It seemed an open invitation to offer Russia some kind of assurance that, for a decade or maybe a quarter-century, NATO membership for Kyiv was off the table. But the Biden administration has drawn a red line at allowing Putin a right to veto which nations can join NATO.

More complex is negotiating the reverse problem: How the United States and NATO operate in Ukraine. Ever since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the United States and NATO nations have been haltingly providing Ukraine with what the West calls defensive arms, including the capability to take out Russian tanks and aircraft. That flow has sped up in recent weeks.

To hear Putin, those weapons are more offensive than defensive — and Russian disinformation campaigns have suggested that Washington’s real goal is to put nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Administration officials say the United States has no such plans — and some kind of agreement should be, as one official said, “the easiest part of this,” as long as Russia is willing to pull back its intermediate-range weapons as well.

Upending the European Order

Putin has made clear that he wants to restore what he calls Russia’s “sphere of influence” in the region — essentially a return to the Cold War order, before Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin agreed in 1997 that former Soviet states and Warsaw bloc nations could choose whether to seek membership in NATO. Since then, the alliance has roughly doubled in size.

Putin also wants all nuclear weapons out of Europe, even though those weapons — mostly gravity bombs that have been stored in Germany, Turkey, Italy and Belgium — have been there for decades.

Asked Wednesday whether he would take those weapons out or stop troop rotations through the former Soviet bloc, Biden said, “No, there’s not space for that.”

Rose Gottemoeller, who negotiated New START, the last major nuclear accord with Russia, said at the Center for the National Interest on Monday that Putin’s demands were partly “a temper-tantrum effect” after years in which Putin’s grievances have, in his view, never been taken seriously.

So is there room for negotiation? Perhaps there is, Gottemoeller said. She noted that Putin “cares about summitry with Biden,” which suggests that the two men might, ultimately, come to some kind of broader understanding about Europe’s future. At a minimum they could address the nuclear issues by reviving the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, which Putin violated for years and President Donald Trump scrapped.

And the United States has suggested reviving an old agreement that would limit military exercises, prescribe how far away from borders they needed to be and reduce the fear that an “exercise” turns into an invasion.

The problem with this approach is that it sounds a lot like continuing the kind of grinding, incremental arrangements that have marked the post-Cold War era. And that is exactly the era Putin is trying to blow up.

Cuban Missile Crisis Redux?

If all these sound like quarter-century-old problems, well, they are. Which is why any new accords with Russia, to be truly effective, would have to embrace Russia’s turn toward deniable, hard-to-detect cyberweapons. As the Department of Homeland Security reminded private industry over the weekend, U.S. critical infrastructure, including the power grid, is laced with Russian-planted malware. So far, none has been triggered — and as a deterrent the United States has planted code in the Russian grid as well.

Such weapons do not lend themselves to arms control — they are hard to find and impossible to count. But no agreement with Russia that excludes them will address the constant, asymmetric battling that goes on between the two countries every day.

And then there is the problem that dominated the Cold War: nukes.

In the past week, Putin has been on the phone — not just to his old allies, but to the leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Some Russian news organizations have said the topics might be what Putin likes to call a “military-technical” response to the Ukraine crisis.

There have been hints from Russian officials about what that means: Russia could consider placing nuclear weapons back in the Western Hemisphere, within easy, short reach of US&nbsp;cities. If that sounds familiar, it should. It was the core of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the closest the world came to annihilation during the Cold War.

Putin’s motivation is clear: If the United States won’t remove its weapons from Europe — even ageing tactical weapons that need to be dropped from airplanes — he is determined to put US&nbsp;cities at similar risk. So far, there is no evidence that he is doing anything but talking. But even the suggestion of it has revived old fears.

“The last thing in the world President Biden would want is to engage us and Russia in a nuclear exchange,” said Thomas Pickering, a veteran of Cold War diplomacy who is considered the dean of retired American diplomats.

The fear, now as then, is escalation. “Many people have postulated how that might happen,” Pickering said. “Almost no one that I know has given a conclusive way to stop it once it starts.”

Russian troops are encircling Ukraine from three sides. In Washington and Brussels, there are warnings of crushing sanctions if Vladimir Putin orders an invasion.

Russian troops are encircling Ukraine from three sides. In Washington and Brussels, there are warnings of crushing sanctions if Vladimir Putin orders an invasion. Embassy families — both American and Russian — are being evacuated from Kyiv. Yet there are still diplomatic options — “off-ramps” in the lingo of the negotiators — and in the next several days the Biden administration and NATO are expected to respond, in writing, to Putin’s far-reaching demands. The question is whether there is real potential for compromise in three distinct areas: Russia’s demand for ironclad assurances that Ukraine won’t enter NATO; that NATO won’t further expand; and that Russia can somehow restore some approximation of its sphere of influence in the region to before the strategic map of Europe was redrawn in the mid-1990s. The hardest issue of all defies negotiation: Putin’s demand that Ukraine reverse its “drift” toward the West. That is a matter of national sentiment, and polls show that in the years since Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014, Ukrainians are more desirous than ever of joining the Western alliance. Putin’s massing of the troops is likely to accelerate that trend, US officials say, rather than reverse it. And as in all conflicts with roots in the Cold War and its aftermath, the subtext of any negotiation includes how the world’s two largest nuclear-armed states manage their arsenals — and use them for leverage. While there is still time to avoid the worst, even President Joe Biden’s top aides say they have no idea if a diplomatic solution, rather than the conquest of Ukraine, is what Putin has in mind. The Russian president views Ukraine not as a separate nation but as a land that was negotiated away after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many who have dealt with Putin believe he now sees it as his mission to correct that error, even if that means risking war to redraw the map of Europe. Even if the diplomacy is for real, no one is certain how long they have to head off military action. A few weeks? Until the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics, on the theory that Putin would not want to anger President Xi Jinping by starting a war that would divert attention from China’s big moment? Not all the potential blockades to a solution involve the Russians. If facing down Moscow was once a bipartisan task in Washington, it is no longer. Even before the counterproposals to Russia are finished, Republicans have been using the tensions to portray the administration as offering “appeasement,” a word chosen to evoke images of Britain’s approach to Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, trying to blunt the angle of attack, shot back Sunday that “engaging in diplomacy doesn’t take the word ‘nyet’ out of your vocabulary.” Defusing Ukraine It is possible that Putin’s bottom line in this conflict is straightforward: that he wants to stop Ukraine from joining NATO and get an assurance that the United States and NATO will never place offensive weapons that threaten Russia’s security in Ukrainian territory. On those two issues, it would seem, there is trading space. While the United States says it will never abandon the NATO “open door” policy — which means that every nation is free to make its own choice about whether it seeks to join the Western alliance — the reality is clear: Ukraine is so corrupt, and its grasp of democracy is so tenuous, that no one expects it to be accepted for NATO membership in the next decade or two. On this, Biden has been clear. “The likelihood that Ukraine is going to join NATO in the near term is not very likely,” he said at a news conference Wednesday, giving voice to a previously unspoken truth. “So there is room to work if he wants to do that.” It seemed an open invitation to offer Russia some kind of assurance that, for a decade or maybe a quarter-century, NATO membership for Kyiv was off the table. But the Biden administration has drawn a red line at allowing Putin a right to veto which nations can join NATO. More complex is negotiating the reverse problem: How the United States and NATO operate in Ukraine. Ever since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the United States and NATO nations have been haltingly providing Ukraine with what the West calls defensive arms, including the capability to take out Russian tanks and aircraft. That flow has sped up in recent weeks. To hear Putin, those weapons are more offensive than defensive — and Russian disinformation campaigns have suggested that Washington’s real goal is to put nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Administration officials say the United States has no such plans — and some kind of agreement should be, as one official said, “the easiest part of this,” as long as Russia is willing to pull back its intermediate-range weapons as well. Upending the European Order Putin has made clear that he wants to restore what he calls Russia’s “sphere of influence” in the region — essentially a return to the Cold War order, before Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin agreed in 1997 that former Soviet states and Warsaw bloc nations could choose whether to seek membership in NATO. Since then, the alliance has roughly doubled in size. Putin also wants all nuclear weapons out of Europe, even though those weapons — mostly gravity bombs that have been stored in Germany, Turkey, Italy and Belgium — have been there for decades. Asked Wednesday whether he would take those weapons out or stop troop rotations through the former Soviet bloc, Biden said, “No, there’s not space for that.” Rose Gottemoeller, who negotiated New START, the last major nuclear accord with Russia, said at the Center for the National Interest on Monday that Putin’s demands were partly “a temper-tantrum effect” after years in which Putin’s grievances have, in his view, never been taken seriously. So is there room for negotiation? Perhaps there is, Gottemoeller said. She noted that Putin “cares about summitry with Biden,” which suggests that the two men might, ultimately, come to some kind of broader understanding about Europe’s future. At a minimum they could address the nuclear issues by reviving the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, which Putin violated for years and President Donald Trump scrapped. And the United States has suggested reviving an old agreement that would limit military exercises, prescribe how far away from borders they needed to be and reduce the fear that an “exercise” turns into an invasion. The problem with this approach is that it sounds a lot like continuing the kind of grinding, incremental arrangements that have marked the post-Cold War era. And that is exactly the era Putin is trying to blow up. Cuban Missile Crisis Redux? If all these sound like quarter-century-old problems, well, they are. Which is why any new accords with Russia, to be truly effective, would have to embrace Russia’s turn toward deniable, hard-to-detect cyberweapons. As the Department of Homeland Security reminded private industry over the weekend, U.S. critical infrastructure, including the power grid, is laced with Russian-planted malware. So far, none has been triggered — and as a deterrent the United States has planted code in the Russian grid as well. Such weapons do not lend themselves to arms control — they are hard to find and impossible to count. But no agreement with Russia that excludes them will address the constant, asymmetric battling that goes on between the two countries every day. And then there is the problem that dominated the Cold War: nukes. In the past week, Putin has been on the phone — not just to his old allies, but to the leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Some Russian news organizations have said the topics might be what Putin likes to call a “military-technical” response to the Ukraine crisis. There have been hints from Russian officials about what that means: Russia could consider placing nuclear weapons back in the Western Hemisphere, within easy, short reach of US cities. If that sounds familiar, it should. It was the core of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the closest the world came to annihilation during the Cold War. Putin’s motivation is clear: If the United States won’t remove its weapons from Europe — even ageing tactical weapons that need to be dropped from airplanes — he is determined to put US cities at similar risk. So far, there is no evidence that he is doing anything but talking. But even the suggestion of it has revived old fears. “The last thing in the world President Biden would want is to engage us and Russia in a nuclear exchange,” said Thomas Pickering, a veteran of Cold War diplomacy who is considered the dean of retired American diplomats. The fear, now as then, is escalation. “Many people have postulated how that might happen,” Pickering said. “Almost no one that I know has given a conclusive way to stop it once it starts.”

War may loom, but are there off-ramps?

Russian officials on Thursday signalled that they might abandon diplomatic efforts to resolve the security crisis surrounding Ukraine, bringing a whirlwind week of European diplomacy to an ominous end and deflating hopes that negotiators could forge a path toward easing tensions in Eastern Europe.

One senior Russian diplomat said that talks with the West were approaching a “dead end,” while another said the Kremlin would wait until it received written responses to its demands from Washington and from NATO next week before deciding how to proceed.

It was clear that Russia’s next move would be up to President Vladimir Putin, who, his spokesperson said Thursday, was being briefed regularly this week on negotiations with the West.

“The United States and its allies are actually saying no to key elements of these texts,” Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said, referring to the draft agreements with NATO and Washington that Russia published last month. “This is what we call a dead-end or a different approach.”

In Washington, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters that after a week of diplomacy, the United States was ready to talk further, especially about missile deployments and military exercises in Europe, but was also preparing to respond “to a further Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

“We have been very clear with Russia on the costs and consequences of further military action or destabilization,” Sullivan said. “So we’re ready either way.”

Sullivan said the Russian responses to the meetings in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna had been contradictory, noting that some officials have been “hopeful” and others sounded “deeply pessimistic.” But he added, “I’m not going to put myself in the head of the Russians” and noted that American intelligence agencies had still not determined that the Russians had definitively decided on a military course of action.

The US&nbsp;representative to Thursday’s meeting, Michael Carpenter, also depicted the two sides as engaged in a standoff with no clear resolution.

“We must never stand for the flouting or erosion of our bedrock principles,” Carpenter said. “That means no tolerance for overt or tacit spheres of influence, no restrictions on the sovereign right of nations to choose their own alliances, no privileging one state’s security requirements over those of another.”

Russia is demanding that NATO drastically scale back its presence near Russia’s borders in Eastern Europe, including stopping all military cooperation with Ukraine and providing legally binding guarantees that the country will never join the alliance. Ryabkov said dialogue with the United States was continuing but also warned that Putin was receiving options from the military about what to do “in the case of a deterioration of the situation.”

Those options, analysts and Western officials believe, are likely to involve new Russian military action against Ukraine. Joining this week’s discussions for the first time Thursday, Ukraine said it had identified 106,000 Russian troops and 1,500 tanks near its border and accused Moscow of pointing a “gun at our common European security.”

Thursday’s gathering, the last of three negotiating sessions this week between Russia and the West, took place in Vienna at a meeting of the 57-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a group that includes Russia and Ukraine as well as the United States.

“It seems that the risk of war in the OSCE area is now greater than ever before in the last 30 years,” Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau of Poland, which took over the rotating chairmanship of the organization this year, said in opening the session.

The West insists all countries must have the freedom to choose their alliances, while the Kremlin says that NATO cannot expand eastward and that Western military cooperation with post-Soviet countries such as Ukraine presents an existential threat to Russia’s security.

While Russian officials said this week that they were impressed with the seriousness with which the Biden administration -&nbsp;which the Kremlin sees as its main counterpart -&nbsp;engaged in the talks, there was no sign Thursday that the impasse had been broken.

And while U.S. officials say they are prepared to discuss some of Russia’s concerns -&nbsp;such as negotiating reciprocal limits on where and how military exercises are conducted, or perhaps reviving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the United States pulled out of two years ago -&nbsp;they reject any discussion of Russia’s central demand to roll back NATO expansion.

And it is that larger goal that seems to be driving Russia in the negotiations, as it seeks to keep Ukraine out of NATO and NATO forces from placing troops or weapons in former Soviet states that have since joined the Western alliance. The United States has insisted it will not abandon core principles, including the right of nations to pick their allies, which is at the heart of NATO’s “open door” policy.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also adopted a pessimistic tone.

“The hard reality right now is that we were promised a written reaction,” Lavrov said in an interview aired Thursday, according to the Interfax news agency. “We will wait for it. And then we will determine our next steps.”

Carpenter, asked about Lavrov’s comments, said he did not know whether such a written response was coming.

Ukraine, rejecting Russia’s denials that it had no plans to invade, said Russia’s massing of troops near the Ukrainian border needed to be reversed.

“The Russian leadership proves once again Moscow’s voluntarism to point the gun at our common European security at any moment they want,” said Ukraine’s representative, Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk.

Thursday’s talks were at a lower diplomatic level than the negotiations in Brussels and Geneva earlier this week, with no one above the ambassador rank in attendance from the key countries involved. Their host, the OSCE, is expected to serve as a key venue for more negotiations if the Kremlin decides to pursue diplomacy.

“We are not indifferent to security objections voiced by participating states,” Rau said. “I believe that the OSCE is the right platform to discuss every aspect of comprehensive security.”

It was the latest sign that Western countries are scrambling to engage with Russia, which has warned of a “military-technical” response if concerns over its security -&nbsp;such as overt Western military cooperation with Ukraine — are not addressed.

While Russia denies it has plans to invade Ukraine, researchers have identified some new signs of Russian troops moving toward the Ukrainian border in recent days.

Russia’s representative at the talks Thursday in Vienna, Alexander Lukashevich, underscored that Moscow was not ruling out the possibility of further negotiations. Military analysts have noted that&nbsp;were Russia to invade Ukraine, the wintertime frozen ground would be advantageous to its heavy armour.

“If we do not hear a constructive response on our proposals in a reasonable time frame,” Lukashevich said in remarks released by his office, “we will be forced to draw the corresponding conclusions and take all necessary measures to assure the strategic balance and remove unacceptable threats to our national security.”

Russian officials on Thursday signalled that they might abandon diplomatic efforts to resolve the security crisis surrounding Ukraine, bringing a whirlwind week of European diplomacy to an ominous end and deflating hopes that negotiators could forge a path toward easing tensions in Eastern Europe.

Russian officials on Thursday signalled that they might abandon diplomatic efforts to resolve the security crisis surrounding Ukraine, bringing a whirlwind week of European diplomacy to an ominous end and deflating hopes that negotiators could forge a path toward easing tensions in Eastern Europe. One senior Russian diplomat said that talks with the West were approaching a “dead end,” while another said the Kremlin would wait until it received written responses to its demands from Washington and from NATO next week before deciding how to proceed. It was clear that Russia’s next move would be up to President Vladimir Putin, who, his spokesperson said Thursday, was being briefed regularly this week on negotiations with the West. “The United States and its allies are actually saying no to key elements of these texts,” Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said, referring to the draft agreements with NATO and Washington that Russia published last month. “This is what we call a dead-end or a different approach.” In Washington, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters that after a week of diplomacy, the United States was ready to talk further, especially about missile deployments and military exercises in Europe, but was also preparing to respond “to a further Russian invasion of Ukraine.” “We have been very clear with Russia on the costs and consequences of further military action or destabilization,” Sullivan said. “So we’re ready either way.” Sullivan said the Russian responses to the meetings in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna had been contradictory, noting that some officials have been “hopeful” and others sounded “deeply pessimistic.” But he added, “I’m not going to put myself in the head of the Russians” and noted that American intelligence agencies had still not determined that the Russians had definitively decided on a military course of action. The US representative to Thursday’s meeting, Michael Carpenter, also depicted the two sides as engaged in a standoff with no clear resolution. “We must never stand for the flouting or erosion of our bedrock principles,” Carpenter said. “That means no tolerance for overt or tacit spheres of influence, no restrictions on the sovereign right of nations to choose their own alliances, no privileging one state’s security requirements over those of another.” Russia is demanding that NATO drastically scale back its presence near Russia’s borders in Eastern Europe, including stopping all military cooperation with Ukraine and providing legally binding guarantees that the country will never join the alliance. Ryabkov said dialogue with the United States was continuing but also warned that Putin was receiving options from the military about what to do “in the case of a deterioration of the situation.” Those options, analysts and Western officials believe, are likely to involve new Russian military action against Ukraine. Joining this week’s discussions for the first time Thursday, Ukraine said it had identified 106,000 Russian troops and 1,500 tanks near its border and accused Moscow of pointing a “gun at our common European security.” Thursday’s gathering, the last of three negotiating sessions this week between Russia and the West, took place in Vienna at a meeting of the 57-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a group that includes Russia and Ukraine as well as the United States. “It seems that the risk of war in the OSCE area is now greater than ever before in the last 30 years,” Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau of Poland, which took over the rotating chairmanship of the organization this year, said in opening the session. The West insists all countries must have the freedom to choose their alliances, while the Kremlin says that NATO cannot expand eastward and that Western military cooperation with post-Soviet countries such as Ukraine presents an existential threat to Russia’s security. While Russian officials said this week that they were impressed with the seriousness with which the Biden administration - which the Kremlin sees as its main counterpart - engaged in the talks, there was no sign Thursday that the impasse had been broken. And while U.S. officials say they are prepared to discuss some of Russia’s concerns - such as negotiating reciprocal limits on where and how military exercises are conducted, or perhaps reviving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the United States pulled out of two years ago - they reject any discussion of Russia’s central demand to roll back NATO expansion. And it is that larger goal that seems to be driving Russia in the negotiations, as it seeks to keep Ukraine out of NATO and NATO forces from placing troops or weapons in former Soviet states that have since joined the Western alliance. The United States has insisted it will not abandon core principles, including the right of nations to pick their allies, which is at the heart of NATO’s “open door” policy. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also adopted a pessimistic tone. “The hard reality right now is that we were promised a written reaction,” Lavrov said in an interview aired Thursday, according to the Interfax news agency. “We will wait for it. And then we will determine our next steps.” Carpenter, asked about Lavrov’s comments, said he did not know whether such a written response was coming. Ukraine, rejecting Russia’s denials that it had no plans to invade, said Russia’s massing of troops near the Ukrainian border needed to be reversed. “The Russian leadership proves once again Moscow’s voluntarism to point the gun at our common European security at any moment they want,” said Ukraine’s representative, Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk. Thursday’s talks were at a lower diplomatic level than the negotiations in Brussels and Geneva earlier this week, with no one above the ambassador rank in attendance from the key countries involved. Their host, the OSCE, is expected to serve as a key venue for more negotiations if the Kremlin decides to pursue diplomacy. “We are not indifferent to security objections voiced by participating states,” Rau said. “I believe that the OSCE is the right platform to discuss every aspect of comprehensive security.” It was the latest sign that Western countries are scrambling to engage with Russia, which has warned of a “military-technical” response if concerns over its security - such as overt Western military cooperation with Ukraine — are not addressed. While Russia denies it has plans to invade Ukraine, researchers have identified some new signs of Russian troops moving toward the Ukrainian border in recent days. Russia’s representative at the talks Thursday in Vienna, Alexander Lukashevich, underscored that Moscow was not ruling out the possibility of further negotiations. Military analysts have noted that were Russia to invade Ukraine, the wintertime frozen ground would be advantageous to its heavy armour. “If we do not hear a constructive response on our proposals in a reasonable time frame,” Lukashevich said in remarks released by his office, “we will be forced to draw the corresponding conclusions and take all necessary measures to assure the strategic balance and remove unacceptable threats to our national security.”

Russia, at an impasse with the West, warns it is ready to abandon diplomacy

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