Russia announced nuclear drills, even as leaders of nations from the West looked for ways to ease the tensions. According to US estimates, Russia has amassed between 169,000 and 190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine, up from about 100,000 on January 30.
Earlier, Indian Embassy in Ukraine asked its citizens, particularly students whose stay is not essential, to leave Kyiv temporarily.
Moscow has demanded that the U.S. and its allies keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of NATO, not deploy weapons in Ukraine and pull back NATO forces from Eastern Europe.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington will be relieved and happily accept any criticism if its predictions of a Russian invasion of Ukraine do not materialize.
The rebels in eastern Ukraine have made such claims for weeks. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were among political, military and diplomatic leaders heading Thursday to an annual security conference in Munich that will see urgent consultations on the crisis.
White House Press Secy Psaki said that window for a potential Russian attack on Ukraine remains open and warned a fabricated pretext for an incursion could include reports like the one about mass graves in the Donbas region.
In Moscow, Russian lawmakers sent an appeal to Putin urging him to recognize rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states — where Russia has supported rebels in a conflict that has killed over 14,000 in nearly eight years. Putin signaled that he wasn’t inclined to back the motion, which would effectively shatter a 2015 peace deal that was a diplomatic coup for Moscow.
Discussions are underway with civil aviation authorities and various airlines on how to increase the number of flights between India and Ukraine, official sources said.
On Feb 15, there were signs of hope that Europe might avoid war following weeks of escalating East-West tensions as Moscow massed around 1,50,000 troops on 3 sides of Ukraine and held massive military drills.
The attack, the latest of several hacking operations targeting Ukraine, came after weeks of escalating fears that Russia might invade its neighboring country. Russia sent signals Tuesday that it might be pulling back from the brink of an invasion, but Western powers demanded proof.
Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the U.S. and NATO rejected Moscow’s demand to keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe.
US officials dismissed claims of Russian troops withdrawal and said that the invasion is set for February 16 with a massive missile blitz and 200,000 troops.
The Brent-indexed Crude oil prices crossed $96 per barrel, the highest in seven years.
A Britain minister stressed that Putin had now already deployed all military assets that are needed for the invasion. He added that the launch of missiles could come with 'no notice'.
Dutch airline KLM has canceled flights to Ukraine until further notice, the company said. The Ukrainian charter airline SkyUp said Sunday that its flight from Madeira, Portugal, to Kyiv was diverted to the Moldovan capital Chisinau after the plane's Irish lessor said it was banning flights in Ukrainian airspace.
A Russian summary of the call suggested that little progress was made toward cooling down the tensions.
The US did not detail the reasons behind the State Department’s latest security alert that calls on all American citizens to leave Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the two Tu-22M3 bombers practiced interaction with the Belarusian air force and air defense assets during a four-hour mission. The flight followed several similar patrols over Belarus, which borders Ukraine to the north.
Russia says NATO, the American-led alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer membership to Ukraine, which gained independence as the Soviet Union broke apart about 30 years ago.
Russia now has more than 100,000 troops stationed near Ukraine's northern and eastern borders, raising concern that Moscow might invade again, as it did in 2014, and destabilize the Ukrainian economy. Russian officials deny that an invasion is planned.
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