Russian troops on the border with Ukraine

At the beginning of the year, reports began to appear about the build-up of Russian military forces near the Ukrainian borders. Western media and intelligence reported that an escalation of the conflict was inevitable and that Russia was planning a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory.

Russia is massing troops near Ukraine

According to foreign sources, Russian troops are rapidly massing on the border with Ukraine. The US government also reported this, expressing serious concern and predicting that an invasion of Ukraine was planned for mid-February 2022.

Media in various countries began to publish more and more information about a possible escalation of the conflict and even named the exact date when Russia planned to invade with troops – February 16. No attack took place on that day, but in the following days the situation in Donbas escalated significantly – the Russian occupiers violated the ceasefire several dozen times and used weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.

Russian troops are still massing near Ukraine, intelligence reports – as of February 18, Washington reported, approximately 190,000 Russian troops were on the border. According to the data, there are 150,000 military personnel on the border. The number of Russian soldiers has increased significantly – only recently there were about 100,000 of them.

Provocation and escalation – why Russian troops are being brought up

Ukraine and its partners are confident that the Russian occupiers will carry out a series of provocations to incite Ukrainian troops to take active action. Since February 17, the militants have already carried out several dozen provocations, which proved unsuccessful – the blatant lies of the occupiers and low-quality fakes about an alleged “attack by Ukraine” have failed – every provocation by the enemy is exposed by Ukrainians or investigators from other countries.

Despite this, Russia continues to:

• Build up military force on the border and advance troops;

• Allegedly conduct military exercises – both on the territory of Russia and Belarus;

• Forcibly take residents of Donbas and the Luhansk region to the territory of Russia;

• And accuse Ukraine of attacks staged by Russian militants.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that Ukrainian troops will not respond to provocations and will defend their territories. The course of events is being monitored by OSCE observers, who record all violations by Russia.

Currently, Ukraine is supported by more than 30 countries of the world, which expose the lies of the occupiers every day and help financially, diplomatically and practically. So, despite the build-up of Russian troops near the borders, there is no need to panic – the Ukrainian military and allies have the situation under control and will not allow the militants to achieve what they want.