Moscow: A day after Russia announced a first troop pullback from Ukraine’s borders, it announced on Wednesday that military drills in Moscow-annexed Crimea had ended and that soldiers were returning to their garrisons. Some of the country’s military units were returning to their bases after exercises near Ukraine on Tuesday, and mocked repeated Western warnings about a looming invasion, but NATO said it had yet to see any sign of de-escalation on the ground.
Russia did not explain about how many units were being withdrawn, and how far, after a build-up of some 130,000 Russian troops to the north, east and south of Ukraine that has triggered one of the worst crises in relations with the West since the Cold War. ‘We’ve always said the troops will return to their bases after the exercises are over. This is the case this time as well’, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
At the same time, Ukraine defence minister Reznikov said he would participate in a ‘virtual meeting’ of all Nato defense ministers set for Thursday. In a televised statement he said Ukrainian armed forces were keeping up a nationwide military drill, one of which would be attended by the military attach of Belarus. Ukraine’s neighbour has assured Kyiv there is no military threat from its territory. ‘It is very important to show to everyone now that we are together, we are at home, we are in Ukraine’, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden made an impassioned appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to step back from war with Ukraine on Tuesday, speaking starkly of the ‘needless death and destruction’ Moscow could cause and international outrage Putin would face. In a nationally televised speech, Biden said the United States estimates that 150,000 Russian troops now encircle Ukraine, a higher number than previous estimates of about 100,000. He quoted reports that some forces had withdrawn were welcome, but they were unverified and an invasion remained very much a possibility.
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