90,000 Russian soldiers deployed near the Ukraine border

Kyiv/Washington – Ukrainian Defence Ministry has accused Russia of deploying 90,000 troops along its border with Ukraine. This is to escalate military tensions and increase tensions in the region. Ukraine claims that Russia is strong on land, but the Russian warships sailing has grown in the Black Sea region. Meanwhile, the United States, which is making efforts to include Ukraine in NATO, has reacted cautiously. US Defense Chief General Mark Milley said that the United States is assessing the need to deploy such a large number of troops.

Just last week, US analysts claimed that Russia was making new military deployments near the Ukrainian border. Concerns had been expressed over this Russian deployment, citing satellite photographs. US analysts had noted that the Russian large-scale troop deployment near the Ukrainian border, with no planned military exercises, is a cause for concern. It is claimed that Russia gradually increased its troop deployments after the exercise with Belarus.

Initially, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry had rejected this claim made by US analysts. But two days later, a large contingent of Russian troops was stationed about 260 kilometres from the border, according to information released by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. It is also claimed to have a large fleet of tanks and military vehicles. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has criticised the Russian deployment near the border to increase pressure on Ukraine.

Russia has reacted to allegations made earlier by US analysts and now by Ukraine. Russia has denied the allegations in a statement issued on Friday; it stated that Russia lashed out that deployments have been made within the Russian borders, wherever necessary. Earlier, Russia was accused of large-scale military deployments near the Ukrainian border. For the past few weeks, Ukraine has been preparing to join NATO. Ukraine has said no one could block its entry into NATO. Analysts and the media in the United States have claimed that the Russian deployment signalled NATO and Ukraine.

But senior US military officials say that the Russian deployment does not threaten the United States. General Milley said ‘Russia has made similar deployments in the past. Therefore, we don’t still know anything about what this new deployment means. Therefore, it’s not right to talk about it ahead of time.’