Russian troops ‘poised to strike’ Ukraine, US warns

GBNEWS24DESK//

Russian troops on Ukraine’s border are “uncoiling” and “poised to strike”, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said during a visit to Lithuania, report AFP and Reuters.

“They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,” he said, adding that troops were “moving into the right kinds of positions to be able to conduct an attack”.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will oversee exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces as Western leaders gathered in Munich.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was headed to Germany to shore up support among Western allies, despite a significant increase in clashes in the country’s east in which a Ukrainian soldier was killed.

Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine have declared a full military mobilisation, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to Russia, citing the threat of an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv flatly denied the accusation and the United States said it was part of Russia’s plan to create a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine.

Multiple explosions could be heard this morning in the north of the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a Reuters witness said.

The origin was not immediately clear. Ukraine said earlier that one of its soldiers had been killed.

Russia ordered the military buildup while demanding NATO stop Kyiv ever joining the alliance but says predictions it is planning to invade Ukraine are wrong and dangerous.

It says it is now pulling back while the US and allies insist the build-up is continuing in one of the worst crises since the Cold War.