First Published Feb 17, 2022, 4:21 PM IST
EThe U.S. has come out with a claim that Russia’s propaganda is wrong after Russia claimed to have withdrawn its troops from the Crane border. The United States has said Russia has sent more than 7,000 troops to the Ukrainian border. The U.S. reiterates that ‘violence at any moment’ is possible. Russia has said it will return to Belarus after completing ongoing military exercises on the other land / sea borders with Ukraine. Russia has announced that it is withdrawing troops from Belarus following the end of joint military exercises. However, Ukraine’s response was that it did not believe Russia’s word and would accept the withdrawal only in person. Russia later reiterated its claim and the US denied it. With this, the countries of the world are worried whether the Ukraine conflict will be resolved in the near future.
U.S. intelligence reports that Russia will launch an offensive on Wednesday, the day of Ukraine’s unity. Although no such attack took place on Wednesday, Russian media reported that Ukrainian forces had launched a mortar attack on rebel forces in the Luhansk district this morning.
With this, the Russian media accused Ukraine of violating the agreement. However, Ukraine said it was not firing, but insurgents. Ukraine also called for an independent inquiry into the incident.
Russia has repeated its military withdrawal in recent days. But Western officials said they found no evidence of retreat. Western nations also claim that some 100,000 Russian troops are still stationed on the Ukrainian border.
It was reported that US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholes repeated this in a phone conversation on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry released pictures of soldiers and equipment returning to their permanent bases after military exercises.
But a senior White House official, who did not want to be named, claimed on Wednesday that more Russian troops had arrived at the border. The BBC also reported that he was skeptical of Russia’s claims that it was withdrawing troops.
“Russia has received a lot of attention for that claim from around the world, but we know it’s wrong.” He repeated. But he said, “So we have heard, but we have not yet seen a military withdrawal.” Said Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine.
He was addressing the nation on the occasion of the Day of Unity in Ukraine as yellow flags were flown across the country. The president had declared a day off in the country for Unity Day. But on the same day, US intelligence reported that Russia would attack Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Russian threat to Ukraine was a “recent occurrence” but denied that Russia had withdrawn its troops from the border. Stoltenberg was speaking at the NATO Defense Ministers’ Summit in Brussels.
Jens Stoltenberg said the NATO alliance would consider setting up new combat groups of the smallest type of self-sufficient military units in central and southeastern Europe. This is part of a series of measures to strengthen the European defense.
He said NATO had spent $ 270 billion in the region since 2014. He sought to reassure Russia that the NATO alliance was not a threat. However he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat France.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “not interested” in the NATO Secretary-General’s statement. Britain did not agree with Russia’s claim that it had withdrawn its troops. UK Foreign Secretary Listrus has warned Russia not to lure Westerners into a false sense of security.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reiterated that there is currently no evidence that Russia has withdrawn. Lieutenant General Jim Hockenhall, the head of the UK’s intelligence service, said Russia was still strengthening its forces on the border.
Jim Hockenhall said he received footage of additional Russian armored vehicles, helicopters and a field hospital moving towards the Ukrainian border.
Russian troops are still on the border to launch an invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. State Department has warned that Russian officials are writing new stories in the media with the aim of influencing public opinion by giving false information in the event of another occupation.
Putin has claimed that genocide is taking place in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting since the 2014 occupation of Crimea. But the Russian president could not list the evidence.
Following this, German Chancellor Olaf Scholes criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for not using such terms without evidence. Meanwhile, Russian media reported that Ukrainian troops opened fire on rebel forces in the Luhansk district this morning, violating the ceasefire agreement.
Ukraine, however, claims that no claim has been made on this claim. Ukraine has said no such shelling has taken place. Instead, they accused the rebels of firing on them.
Ukraine, which was part of the USSR, later became an independent nation. But Putin is not interested in a NATO military base on the Russian border. Putin has repeatedly called on Ukraine to stay out of the NATO alliance. Putin wants Ukraine to guarantee that this will not happen. It is also a reason for Russia to reiterate that war is not on its agenda.
Putin fears that NATO expansion will pose a threat to them as the world’s second largest military power. However, NATO rejected Putin’s demand. However, there are reports that NATO forces have already delivered state-of-the-art military equipment to Ukraine via the European country of Latvia.
Jens Stoltenberg reiterates that Europe is in the most serious security crisis since the Cold War. He claimed that the threat had not changed, but still existed.
Germany and France reiterate that war is not the solution and should be negotiated. Although China has said it is with Russia on the Ukraine issue, China has maintained that the issue is Europe’s.
Meanwhile, Western nations began trying to repatriate their Ukrainian citizens. The first Indian delegation from Ukraine returned home when the UK and US began efforts a few days ago.
