MOSCOW/KYIV, 16 February (Okeynews): Russia said that more of its troops surrounding Ukraine was resigning on Wednesday.
However, NATO requested Moscow to prove that it was pulling back and said there was evidence that more troops were coming.
Ukraine in Ukraine, where people raised flags and sang the national anthem to demonstrate solidarity against the threat of an attack.
The defense ministry declared that the cyberattack was in the second week of. Russia claimed it had nothing to do with it.
The Russian defense ministry announced that its troops were withdrawing after the completion of exercises in the western and southern military districts in Ukraine.
The video is published claiming showed tanks with infantry fighting vehicles as well as self-propelled artillery units departing the Crimean peninsula that Moscow removed of Ukraine at the end of 2014.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said a pullout would be welcomed, but the move of troops around has not been confirmed.
“It remains to be seen whether there is a Russian withdrawal … What we see is that they have increased the number of troops, and more troops are on the way,” said the official in the midst of a two-day gathering of NATO defense ministers at the headquarters of the alliance in Brussels.
The Kremlin declared that NATO’s analysis was not accurate. The ambassador of Moscow to Ireland stated that forces from the West of Russia would be returning to their normal positions in three to four weeks.
The operation of troops in the Crimean peninsula was part of a massive increase in Russian forces in the east, north, and south Ukraine from November.
This caused London as well as Washington to alert the world in the last few days that an imminent Russian invasion was on the horizon.
Russia ridiculed the warnings, calling them hysterical propaganda for war in announcing on Tuesday that some of its units were returning to their bases after having completed exercises.
China has been cultivating closer relations with Russia since both have been subject to ever-growing scrutiny from the West.
and has said it was accusing China of accusing the United States of “playing up the threat of warfare and creating tension.”
Military analysts believe that a crucial indicator of a significant withdrawal will be the extent to which fields, hospitals, fuel storage facilities, and other fuel sources are demolished.
However, troops from Russia’s extreme east, who are participating in massive exercise within Belarus during this time, will return to their base thousands of miles from home.
BIDEN STATEMENT
U.S. President Joe Biden declared on Tuesday that over 150,000 Russian troops were still residing near the borders of Ukraine and that an attack was “distinctly possible.” Biden said Washington did not yet have formal confirmation of any withdrawal.
Biden has repeatedly warned of the hefty cost for Russia should it attack Ukraine, which includes sanctions against Russian companies as well as Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
He also reiterated his willingness to engage with Russia about the issue of arms control as well as measures to improve transparency and stability.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was also eager to meet.
“We hope that this negotiation process will begin,” the official said, noting that it will be a complex process and requires some flexibility from both sides.
Russia has never acknowledged plans to attack Ukraine. However, it has been pleading for security assurances from the West, which includes the assurance that its neighbor Ukraine will not be part of NATO. It is the United States and its allies that have denied this.
DAY OF UNITY
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that he does not observe any indication of the possibility of a Russian troops’ withdrawal.
“When the troops do withdraw, everyone will see that.. but for now, it’s just a statement,” the BBC quoted Zelenskiy in a trip to the western part of Ukraine.
Zelenskiy declared Wednesday to be a national holiday to counter Western news reports suggesting that Russia could be invading the country on this day.
“No one can love our home as we can. And only we, together, can protect our home,” he stated earlier.
The ministry of defense claimed that hackers continued to bombard its website, and they found weaknesses in the code.
Traffic was diverted to servers located in the United States while the issue was being addressed, according to the statement.
While Kyiv did not specify the person responsible for the incident, the statement implied that it was blamed on Russia.
“It is not ruled out that the aggressor used tactics of dirty little tricks because its aggressive plans are not working out on a large scale,” stated the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security.
The Kremlin has denied the notion that Russia had any involvement in cyber-attacks; however, it did say it wasn’t shocked to learn that Ukraine will blame Moscow.
Kremlin spokesperson Peskov claimed Putin has “taken note” of a demand from the Russian Parliament on Tuesday asking Putin to acknowledge”independence “independence” of two breakaway regions in the eastern region of Ukraine where separatists supported by Russia have been fighting Ukrainian government forces since 2014.
However, he added that this is not conforming to his 2014-15 Minsk agreements to end the conflict. Ukraine claims that one thousand people are killed.
The comment seemed to suggest that Putin will not be rushing to recognize the separatist zones that Ukraine, as well as the West, consider provocative. However, he could keep this option in the back of his mind.