French President Emmanuel Macron has said he thinks a deal to avoid war in Ukraine is possible and that it is legitimate for Russia to raise its own security concerns.
In the last two weeks, the number of battalion tactical groups in the border region has risen to 83 from 60 as of Friday and 14 more are in transit, the officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
The mission also defended the movement of Russian troops "on our own soil" and accused the U.S. violating "the principle of the indivisibility of security" with the placement of "military infrastructure close to Russian borders."
Moscow insists it has no plans to invade, but is demanding wide-ranging security guarantees — including a ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO — in exchange for de-escalation
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby described the intelligence that Russia could frame Ukraine as preparing an attack against Russian-backed forces as “very credible.”
Russia’s dealings — or, more accurately, its clashes — with the West have focused on one country that has been a particular flashpoint for confrontations in recent years: Ukraine.
