Poised on Border, Russia May Be Seeking Pretext for Ukraine Invasion, Officials Say
The New York Times
The pressure on Kyiv mounted after a weekend of shelling and evacuations in the east, and the extension of war games in neighboring Belarus.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian military exercises on Ukraine’s border were extended indefinitely on Sunday, leaving an unrelenting threat hanging over a vastly outgunned Ukrainian military and jittery population after a weekend of shelling and evacuations that American and Ukrainian officials warned was an effort by Moscow to create a pretext for an invasion.
The defense minister of Belarus said the war games in the country, which borders Ukraine and where some 30,000 Russian forces were taking part in the drills, would continue because of heightened tensions in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatists in the region have evacuated thousands of civilians ahead of what they said was an impending assault by Ukrainian forces.
With an estimated 190,000 Russian forces now massed on their nation’s borders and in breakaway areas, Ukrainian officials dismissed any intention of mounting an attack in the eastern Donbas region, where Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists have been locked in a military standoff.
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