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Russia on Wednesday attempted to prove its forces were being withdrawn from Ukraine’s borders — but NATO remained unconvinced, instead insisting the Kremlin was actually still secretly beefing up its threatening presence.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a trainload of armored vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The move was heralded as proof that the Kremlin was sticking to its promise to return forces to their permanent bases — and on the day Western officials have eyed as a likely invasion date.
However, the Russian military offered few details, including how many troops or weapons were being withdrawn.
And NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg insisted Wednesday that there was still no proof — and warning that intelligence suggested the opposite.
“So far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground,” Stoltenberg told reporters ahead of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
“On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues their military build-up,” he said.
“What we see is that they have increased the number of troops, and more troops are on the way.”
President Biden had insisted Tuesday that the US hadn’t “seen any evidence” of the promised withdrawal, with more than 150,000 Russian troops still amassed near Ukraine’s borders.
That remained the case Wednesday, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in a series of interviews.
“We haven’t seen any evidence at the moment of that withdrawal,” Wallace told Times Radio on Wednesday.
“Physical observations that we see show the opposite of some of the recent rhetoric coming out the Kremlin,” he separately told the BBC.
Ukraine’s defense ministry said Wednesday that an unprecedented cyber-attack was continuing into its second day. Russia said it had nothing to do with any attack.
Russian fighter jets also flew training missions over Belarus — which neighbors Ukraine to the north — and paratroopers held shooting drills at firing ranges there as part of massive war games that the West feared could be used as cover for an invasion of Ukraine.
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei reaffirmed that all Russian troops will leave the country after the maneuvers wrap up Sunday.
Russia has denied having any invasion plans and has mocked Western warnings about an imminent invasion as “hysteria” and “madness.”
Asked by German daily Welt if Russia was going to attack Wednesday — named by Western officials as a possible invasion date — Russia’s ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov quipped: “Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.”
“There won’t be an escalation next week either, on in the week after, or in the coming month,” he said.
With Post wires
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