As tension continues to mount over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia continues to mass troops and announces maneuvers in close proximity to Ukraine.
Ukraine and the future of Donbass are on the menu of discussions today at the Élysée between French, German, Ukrainian and Russian advisers. The representatives of Normandy format resume their negotiations after an interruption of several months and while the tension on the Russian-Ukrainian border is high and the Russian troops, 100,000 soldiers, are massed not far from the southern, eastern and northern borders of Ukraine.
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The strength would rise to 137,000 when taking into account the sea and air forces, according to the latest intelligence assessment from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, reported by CNN. Many formations have moved towards the Ukrainian borders, in particular, in the Belgorod region, located north of Kharkiv, but also further west in the Bryansk region, where satellite images show military trucks and tanks , 13 km from the Ukrainian border.
SU-35 fighters from the Far East landed at Belarusian airfields, according to images from the Russian Defense Ministry channel Zvezda. Officially, joint maneuvers are to begin in Belarus on February 10. Military exercises have, on the other hand, already started in the South of Russia, in the region of Rostov on the Don, near the Donbass at war, and in Crimea: fighter planes, bombers and 6,000 men take part in them. . The show of force is impressive, but Kiev puts things into perspective. The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba considers that these forces represent a threat for Ukraine, but that they are still insufficient in number for a large-scale offensive.
Added to this are naval maneuvers in the Atlantic, the Arctic, the Pacific and the Mediterranean.
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