US satellite company reports on new Russian troop movements
“Then Putin will not get less, but more NATO”
At the Munich Security Conference, Boris Johnson fears the biggest war in Europe since 1945. If it comes to that, even the SPD is considering more NATO troops in Eastern Europe. You couldn’t give Russia “the peace branch forever,” says EU Council President Charles Michel.
US intelligence services are certain that Putin has already given the order to invade. New images also show “several new field deployments of armored equipment and troops,” satellite imagery company Maxar said on Sunday.
uS-secret services are said to have learned last week that the Kremlin had ordered Russian military units to invade Ukraine. That’s what the “New York Times‘ and the broadcasters CBS News and CNN citing security circles. This information prompted US President Joe Biden to state that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had already made the decision to attack.
On Saturday, Biden said of Putin: “I am convinced that he made the decision.” And further: “We believe that they are targeting the Ukrainian capital of Kiev – a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”
The intelligence information is also said to show that 40 to 50 percent of the more than 150,000 Russian soldiers on the Ukrainian border have gone into battle formation and could launch an attack within days, the New York Times wrote. Some of the troops are said to be Russian reservists who could form an occupation force after an invasion.
However, the order does not mean that an invasion is certain, as Putin can always change his mind. Further details about the intelligence information were not known on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US was still doing everything it could to dissuade Putin from invading Ukraine. However, recent events, including the surge in troops in Belarus and increased shelling along the line of contact, showed that Putin was laying the pretexts and grounds for an invasion consistent with US intelligence findings and previous Russian territorial conquests .
Blinken: “Putin has stuck to the script”
“He follows the script almost to the letter,” Blinken told CNN. His offer to meet Lavrov in the coming days was conditional on Russia not invading Ukraine first, he told NBC.
“When tensions escalate to a maximum, as is the case now, for example, at the line of contact, then any spark, any unplanned incident or small planned provocation can lead to irreparable consequences,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview that was broadcast on Russian state television on Sunday.
Ukrainian soldiers at the front said they were under orders not to return fire.
New Russian troop movements
Meanwhile, a US satellite imagery company on Sunday reported new Russian troop movements near the Ukrainian border. The images showed “several new field deployments of armored equipment and troops,” satellite imaging company Maxar said. Photos taken on Sunday appear to show tracks left by vehicles driving across snow-covered fields surrounded by forests and lined with roads.
Troops in a forest near the Russian city of Belgorod, which lies on the Ukrainian border
Source: AFP/-
The troop movements took place in forests and fields about 14 to 30 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border. The company’s analysts compared the current images with a week-old satellite images and were able to track the movements near three towns in south-west Russia.
“Most of the combat units and supporting equipment in Soloti have been withdrawn and you can see numerous vehicle tracks and some convoys with armored equipment throughout the area,” Maxar said. “Some equipment was also deployed east of the neighboring Russian town of Valuiki, in a field about 15 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.”
“Most equipment in or near wooded areas”
“In addition, a number of new field movements can also be observed northwest of Belgorod, with much of the equipment and troops positioned in or near forested areas.” “Company-sized” units would be deployed in agricultural and industrial areas.
Two recordings in comparison, one from February 13 (top) and one from February 20 (bottom)
Source: AFP/-
Other signs that could point to an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine have “not yet been observed,” CNN reported, citing intelligence circles. Accordingly, there are also considerations in the US government that the attack orders could still be withdrawn or that the information could have been manipulated in order to mislead the West.
Troops at the edge of trees near the Ukrainian border
Source: via REUTERS
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Moscow issued a message to its citizens warning of the risk of attacks in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and near the Ukrainian border, and urging them to make evacuation arrangements if necessary. The embassy referred to “media reports”. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed the warnings as vague and asked, “What to do with them?”