Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces on Saturday and Washington said Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s border were “poised to strike”.
As Western nations fear the start of one the worst conflicts since the Cold War, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian forces were beginning to “uncoil and move closer” to the border with its former Soviet neighbor.
“We hope he steps back from the brink of conflict,” he told a news conference on a visit to Lithuania, saying an invasion of Ukraine was not inevitable.
Russia ordered the military build-up while demanding NATO stop Ukraine from ever joining the alliance but says predictions it is planning to invade Ukraine are wrong and dangerous. It says it is now pulling back while Washington and allies insist the build-up is mounting.
Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine earlier declared a full military mobilization, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to Russia, citing the threat of an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces.
Kyiv flatly denied the accusation and Washington said it was part of Russia’s plan to create a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine.
Multiple explosions could be heard on Saturday morning in the north of the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, as more people got on buses to leave, a Reuters witness said. The origin was not immediately clear. Ukraine said earlier that one of its soldiers had been killed.
“It’s really scary. I’ve taken everything I could carry,” said Tatyana, 30, who was boarding a bus with her four-year-old daughter.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who has given regular warnings of an impending invasion, said on Friday he now believes the capital Kyiv would be targeted by Russia but that he does not think Putin is even remotely contemplating using nuclear weapons.
Biden told reporters at the White House Putin would invade in the coming days. “As of this moment, I am convinced that he has made the decision,” he said.
The Kremlin said Russia had successfully test-launched hypersonic and cruise missiles at sea and land-based targets during the exercises by Russia’s nuclear forces.
Putin sat observing the exercises on screens along with the president of neighboring Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, from what the Kremlin described as a “situation center”.
Austin said the nuclear exercises were stoking concern among defense leaders around the world. He worried about the risks of carrying out the drills at the same time that Russia’s military was focused on a massive build-up of forces around Ukraine.
“When you layer on top of that a very sophisticated exercise with strategic nuclear forces, that makes things complicated to the degree that you could have an accident or a mistake,” Austin said.
