Russia-Ukraine live updates: In abrupt plan change, Russian troops remain in Belarus

(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.

More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some troops have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian forces have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.

It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.

Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Feb 20, 11:48 am
Macron calls Putin in apparent last-ditch effort

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Sunday by phone in an apparent last-ditch effort to discourage the Russian president from invading Ukraine.

Macron claimed that he and Putin agreed to “resume the work” of the Normandy Format peace talks, the long-running negotiations mediated by France and Germany and aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine between Russian-controlled separatists and Ukraine’s government.

Macron’s office says the agreement was made on the basis of “the exchanges and proposals made by Ukraine in recent days.”

The Kremlin’s readout of the call, though, did not say the two had agreed to anything concrete on the Normandy Format and noted Putin has accused Ukraine of only “initiating” negotiations. Putin did agree to intensify the search for a diplomatic solution, given “the severity” of the situation, the Kremlin said in a statement.

During the call, Putin blamed the escalation around eastern Ukraine on the Ukrainian military and expressed “serious concern” about the “sharp deterioration” around the frontline there, according to the Kremlin.

Following the call, Macron spoke by phone with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for 30 minutes, according to the French president’s office.

Afterward, Zelenskyy tweeted that Ukraine wants an immediate “regime of silence” to be observed in eastern Ukraine and called for the Trilateral Contact Group that helps mediate ceasefire violations to be immediately convened amid the intensified shelling in the region as Russia continues to build an apparent pretext for an attack.

Feb 20, 11:35 am
Harris ‘absolutely’ believes sanctions will deter Russia, she says

Vice President Kamala Harris is confident the threat of sanctions from U.S. and European partners will “absolutely” deter Russia from invading Ukraine, even if Putin has made up his mind, she told reporters before departing Munich to return to the U.S. on Sunday.

Harris reaffirmed the statement President Joe Biden made on Friday — that Putin has already made his decision to invade.

“We believe Putin has made his decision,” she said. “Period.”

When asked by ABC News foreign correspondent Molly Nagle about whether the U.S. has enough leverage for those sanctions to make a difference, Harris reiterated that sanctions are the best tactic, especially since allies “sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.”

“Remember, also, that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as [the] United States, but a shared perspective among our allies,” she said. “And the allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one.”

Harris also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in a difficult position on joining NATO, since it faces imminent threat from Russia, and emphasized the “significance” of a potential war in Europe.

“It’s been over 70 years, and through those 70 years, as I mentioned yesterday, there has been peace and security,” she said. “We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe.”

Feb 20, 11:20 am
Munich security conference Harris attended facing ‘massive cyber attacks,’ CEO says 

The Munich Security Conference, which Vice President Kamala Harris attended on Sunday, was targeted with “massive cyber attacks,” Benedikt Franke, the CEO of the conference, tweeted. Those attacks were blocked.

“We have once again been under massive cyberattacks over the last hour,” Franke wrote. “Thanks to our partners we have been able to withstand and keep our systems running.”

We have once again been under massive cyberattacks over the last hour. Thanks to our partners we have been able to withstand and keep our systems running. Try harder next time guys. #MSC2022

— Benedikt Franke (@FrankeBenedikt) February 20, 2022

Russia’s threat to Ukraine was the main subject of the conference.

Feb 20, 9:58 am
Russian troops to remain in Belarus

Belarus’ defense minister has announced that Russian troops will stay in the country, signaling an abrupt change in the Kremlin’s plans.

The Kremlin had said the thousands of Russian troops would go home after joint exercises ended on Feb. 20. Now, they say troops will stay put and continue to “check” its forces amassed in the country.

Belarus Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said the Russian troops would remain because of “increasing military activity on the eastern borders and the worsening situation in the Donbas” in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has massed an estimated 30,000 troops in Belarus for the joint war games “Allied Resolve,” moving many of them thousands of miles from bases in Russia’s far east.

The U.S. fears the Russian troops in Belarus — including tanks, attack helicopters, squadrons of fighter jets, airborne units, long-range heavy artillery and ballistic missiles — could be used to threaten Kyiv in the event of a Russian invasion. The Ukrainian capital is just a few hours drive from Belarus’ southern border.

Feb 20, 4:18 am
Russia-backed separatists accuse Ukraine of overnight attack

Russian-controlled separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed on Sunday Ukrainian forces tried to storm some frontline positions in the separatist-held areas overnight and accused them of killing two civilians.

Ukraine has denied its forces have launched any attacks and the unverified claims came as Russia appeared to be intensifying its efforts to build a pretext to launch an invasion of Ukraine, by claiming it is coming to the defense of the separatists. Russian and separatist officials and media in the past four days have unleashed a barrage of false claims about Ukrainian attacks, including staging a fake bombing on a car in the separatists’ de facto capital, Donetsk.

The separatists claimed a Ukrainian airborne brigade attempted to storm their positions near the village of Pionerskoye, trying to force a river crossing there. They said five residential buildings were destroyed and that there are civilian casualties. They also claim to have fought off the Ukrainians, killing some.

The frontline in eastern Ukraine has been static for years and Ukraine is right now trying to avoid any actions that could give Russia an excuse to attack. Ukrainian troops have been ordered to largely hold fire, even if fired on.

The separatists and Russian state media are accusing Ukraine of preparing a major offensive, a claim that would align with Russia using a pretext to attack if it wants to.

Feb 19, 6:39 pm
Biden to convene National Security Council

President Joe Biden will convene a meeting of his National Security Council Sunday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Psaki said Biden “continues to monitor the evolving situation in Ukraine, and is being updated regularly about events on the ground by his national security team.”

He was also updated on Vice President Kamala Harris’ meetings at the Munich Security Conference, Psaki said. Harris addressed the conference Saturday afternoon and then met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of Germany, Greece, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Feb 19, 3:56 pm
Russian forces are ‘uncoiling and are now poised to strike’: US defense secretary

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday told reporters in Lithuania he agrees with President Joe Biden that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a decision to invade Ukraine.

“For months now, Russia has been building up its military forces in and around Ukraine, including in Belarus. They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,” Austin said

Austin told reporters that there is still a diplomatic path to end the situation.

“Conflict is not inevitable, Mr. Putin can choose a different path,” he said.

“I believe that we should continue to try up until the very last minute until it’s no longer possible,” he added later. “ But I think I think if you look at the stance that he is in today it’s apparent that he has made a decision and that they’re moving into the right positions to be able to conduct an attack.”

Austin said Russia has the military capability in the region “to move anytime he chooses.”

As he told Martha Raddatz in her exclusive interview on Friday, those forces include not only combat forces, but logistics, combat aviation, field hospitals and command and control operations.

The U.S. currently has 100 American troops in Lithuania and it appears that a major topic of discussion between the two leaders was setting up a permanent American military presence in the Baltic country. Austin said he had no announcements to make about the possibility but Lithuania’s Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas acknowledged that the topic took up much of their discussion.

Feb 19, 2:57 pm
Foreign ministers of Group of 7 countries meet in Munich 

The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 countries met in Munich on Saturday, amid the looming threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The increase in ceasefire violations along the line of contact in recent days is highly concerning. We condemn the use of heavy weaponry and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, which constitute a clear violation of the Minsk Agreements,” the group said in a statement.

The group, made up of the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, after holding their own meeting.

Kuleba said he would travel to Brussels then Washington, to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. Blinken is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

In a joint statement, the G-7 foreign ministers threatened Russia with massive consequences if it invades Ukraine.

“While we are ready to explore diplomatic solutions to address legitimate security concerns, Russia should be in no doubt that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences, including financial and economic sanctions on a wide array of sectoral and individual targets that would impose severe and unprecedented costs on the Russian economy,” the G-7 said.

Amid continued false claims by Russian-controlled separatists of Ukrainian attacks, the group says these claims “must be seen as laying the ground for military escalation” and calls the increase in shelling “highly concerning.” The group urges Russia to “use its influence over the self-proclaimed republics to exercise restraint and de-escalate.”

Blinken also met one-on-one with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, with his British and Australian counterparts under the AUKUS security alliance umbrella, and with his Saudi counterpart amid the quiet U.S. push for Saudi Arabia to break with Russia over oil and increase production.

Feb 19, 9:51 am
Vice President meets with Ukrainian President in Munich

Vice President Kamala Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Munich for the first time, just one day after President Joe Biden said it wouldn’t be wise for him to leave his country.

Harris told Zelenskyy this is a “decisive moment” in history, making this an “important meeting” for them to be having, among other reasons.

Harris reiterated the U.S. position on the sovereignty of Ukraine and warned, again, of sanctions if Russia invades.

“If Russia further invades your country, as I mentioned earlier today, we will impose swift and severe economic sanctions. We have been clear about that. We are also clear that we would prefer that this would be resolved in a diplomatic way, and we have remained open to a diplomatic path to resolution. However, if Russia takes aggressive action against Ukraine, we are prepared to implement and to do that work in a unified way with our allies around the world,” Harris said.

Speaking through a translator, Zelenskyy said that the only thing his country wants is to have “peace” and expressed his gratitude to the US for its support, including defense capabilities.

Feb 19, 9:17 am
Vice President Harris addresses Munich Security Conference 

Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, just hours after President Joe Biden said he is convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine.

“I am certain we all recognize this year’s gathering is unlike those of the recent past, not since the end of the Cold War as this forum convened under such dire circumstances today, as we are all aware, the foundation of European security is under direct threat in Ukraine,” Harris told the crowd.

Harris laid out how the United States believes an invasion would get under way.

“Russia will plead ignorance and innocence. It will create false pretext for invasion, and it will amass troops and firepower in plain sight we now receive reports of what appears to be provocations and we see Russia spreading disinformation, lies and propaganda. Nonetheless, in a deliberate and coordinated effort, we together are one, exposing the truth and two, speaking with a unifying voice,” Harris said.

Harris reiterated that the U.S. has worked to find a way to de-escalate and remains open to diplomacy, but Russia’s actions do not match their words and would pay a price if they attack, she said.

“And let me be clear: I can say with absolute certainty, if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States together with our allies and partners will impose significant and unprecedented economic costs,” Harris said.

Harris was joined by a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans to show U.S. commitment to the NATO partnership.

Harris also noted U.S. efforts to bolster military posture, stressing, “our forces will not be deployed to fight inside Ukraine. But they will defend every inch of NATO territory since Russia launched its proxy war against Ukraine.”

Feb 19, 7:20 am
Putin oversees missile drill from Moscow

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has overseen strategic missile drills, amid the ongoing tensions around Ukraine, watching a barrage of practice launches of several of Russia’s most advanced weapons, including hypersonic weapons and an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Russian state media showed Putin watching the volley of missile launches in a control center in Moscow, sitting alongside Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who is also hosting huge Russian military exercises in his country amid U.S. warnings the Kremlin may launch an attack on Kyiv.

The drills included launches of two hypersonic missiles, the Kinzhal from a fighter jet and a Zircon anti-ship missile from a warship.

A Yars ICBM was launched from Russia’s Kapustin Yar site and a Sineva ballistic missile fired from a submarine in the Barents Sea, Russia’s defense ministry said.

Russia’s military also released video showing the launches of a Kalibr cruise missile and an Islander ballistic missile.

Putin stages the demonstrative drills as tensions continued to escalate in eastern Ukraine, amid warnings from the US Russian preparing to invade the country within the coming days.

The Russian president has previously trumpeted the missiles as the most advanced in the world.

Feb 19, 6:12 am
Ukraine’s foreign minister to meet Blinken in Washington

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, is expected to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said.

Kuleba is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York the following day.

Feb 19, 3:54 am
Russia-backed separatists declare ‘general mobilization’

A leader of the Russian-controlled separatists in eastern Ukraine declared a “general mobilization” on Saturday, according to Russian state news agencies.

The head of the separatists’ self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, made the announcement.

Pushilin’s comments come after the separatists yesterday announced mass evacuations and warned of an imminent Ukrainian “offensive” amid fears Russia is moving to stage a pretext to attack Ukraine, cloaking it as aid to the separatists.

Feb 18, 8:05 pm
40 to 50% of Russian troops in attack position: US official

About 40 to 50% of Russia’s troops are in “attack positions” near the border with Ukraine, a U.S. official told ABC News.

There are about 150,000 troops on the border area, including 125 battalion tactical groups, or BTGs, the official said.

These BTGs number between 750 and 1,000 personnel each and are specifically outfitted as combat forces. The forces include every capability needed to conduct a combat operation, according to the official.

Feb 18, 7:38 pm
‘I don’t believe it’s a bluff,’ Defense Secretary Austin says

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a number of options available to him and could attack Ukraine in short order.

“This is not a bluff,” he said in the exclusive interview.

“I think he’s assembled the right kinds of things that you would need to conduct a successful invasion,” Austin added.

Raddatz’s full interview with Austin airs Sunday on a special edition of “This Week” from Lviv, Ukraine.

Feb 18, 6:28 pm
FBI warns US industry officials and governors about potential cyber attacks

Homeland security and FBI officials in the last few days have quietly been briefing private industry and government officials to shore up and focus on cybersecurity in anticipation of a possible Russian invasion, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

On Thursday, senior law enforcement and homeland officials briefed U.S. banking leaders and on Friday they briefed some of the nation’s governors to take action and get the word out, the source said.

DHS and FBI officials urged state officials to shore up their cyber infrastructure, according to the source.

Feb 18, 6:00 pm
Top Putin ally accuses Ukrainian president of provoking war

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s parliament and a key ally of Vladimir Putin, accused Ukrainian President president Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “provoking the start of a large war,”
in a social media post.

Volodin accused the Ukrainian president of “firing on peaceful citizens,” without any evidence.

“Russia doesn’t want war. It has said there many times before and our President Vladimir Putin is saying it today. But if a threat arises to the lives of Russian citizens and compatriots…our country will rise to their defense,” Volodin wrote on his personal Telegram channel.

Volodin also accused the U.S. of laying the groundwork for an attack on Russian-backed separatists by increasing its rhetoric against Russia.

Feb 18, 5:26 pm
Biden says Putin has made a decision to invade Ukraine

President Biden provided an update on the ongoing situation between Ukraine and Russia and reiterated that he believes that an invasion will happen in the coming days.

Biden cited intelligence reports but said that diplomacy is still on the table to prevent any armed conflict.

“We’re calling out Russia’s plans loudly and repeatedly, not because we want a conflict but we’re doing everything in our power to remove any reason that Russia may give to justify invading Ukraine,” he said.

Biden said that the U.S. will not send troops, but is committed to economic sanctions and providing Ukraine with weapons and support if there is an invasion.

“Russia has a choice between war and all of the suffering it will bring and diplomacy,” he said.

Feb 18, 4:10 pm
White House, UK claim Russia took part in cyber attacks on Ukraine banks

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser, told reporters during a news conference Friday that U.S. intelligence has determined that Russian cyber actors have likely targeted the Ukrainian government.

Specifically, Neuberger alleged the actors used DDoS attacks on Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and state owned banks this week.

“We have technical information that the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, was seen transmitting high volumes of communication to Ukraine based IP addresses and domains. We’ve shared the underlying intelligence with Ukraine and with our European partners,” she said.

Neuberger said the attacks were of “limited impact” but she reiterated calls on the American private sector to be alert.

“If Russia attacks the United States or allies through asymmetric activities, like disruptive cyber attacks against our companies are critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond,” she said.

Later in the afternoon, the British government also alleged that the GRU was behind the DDoS attacks in Ukraine.

Feb 18, 3:33 pm
UK temporarily suspends operations at its embassy in Kyiv

The United Kingdom is the latest Western nation to suspend operations at its embassy in Kyiv.

The British government said it is moving temporarily relocating its personnel to its embassy office in Lviv.

The U.S., Canada, and Australia have previously announced temporarily leaving their embassies in Kyiv and will operate out of Lviv.

Feb 18, 2:09 pm
US, Ukraine reject claims by Russia of attack in city

The U.S. and Ukrainian governments are rejecting what they say are false claims from Russia and Russian-controlled separatists in eastern Ukraine of an attack on territory they control.

A State Department spokesperson warned the Russian and separatists’ claims are the type of “false flag operation” that Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russia would use to attack Ukraine.

“Announcements like these are further attempts to obscure through lies and disinformation that Russia is the aggressor in this conflict,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also “categorically” denied claims that Kyiv is preparing an offensive in the provinces, known as Donbas — calling it “Russian disinformation.”

False Russian claims of a humanitarian crisis exploded Friday evening, starting with separatists announcing “mass evacuations” of civilians and flooding Russian state media with footage of children being lined up to depart.

The governor of Russia’s Rostov region, which borders Donbas, appealed to Vladimir Putin for help with a “refugee crisis,” with Putin dispatching his emergency management minister — the kind of staged high-level “emergency meeting” that Blinken warned about during remarks to the United Nations Thursday.

“It is also cynical and cruel to use human beings as pawns to distract the world from the fact that Russia is building up its forces in preparation for an attack. Russia is the sole instigator of these tensions and is threatening the people of Ukraine,” the State Department spokesperson said.

Feb 18, 11:24 am
Biden to speak to nation on Ukraine crisis at 4 p.m.

The White House has announced President Joe Biden will speak to the nation at 4 p.m. on the Ukraine crisis.

It says he will give an update on “continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy, and Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine.”

The remarks will follow a phone call Biden is holding with transatlantic leaders, scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

Earlier Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed U.S. claims Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine within days and reiterated his demand that the Ukrainian government engage in direct talks with Russia-backed separatists.

Feb 18, 10:52 am
Putin warns of ‘escalation’ in Donbas, urges Ukraine to negotiate with separatists

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that the situation in eastern Ukraine is escalating, amid fears Moscow is seeking a pretext to attack its ex-Soviet neighbor.

“Unfortunately, right now we are seeing, on the contrary, an escalation of the Donbas situation,” Putin said at a joint press conference in Moscow on Friday, following a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Putin reiterated Russia’s demand that the Ukrainian government engage in direct talks with the Russia-backed separatists in Donbas, a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine.

“All Kyiv has to do is sit down at the negotiating table with Donbas representatives and agree on the political, military, economic and humanitarian measures to end the conflict,” he said. “The sooner it happens the better.”

Russia has demanded for years that Kyiv negotiate with the separatists directly, but Ukraine has always refused because it views them as Kremlin puppets and it would legitimize Moscow’s false narrative that the ongoing conflict is exclusively a civil war and does not involve Russia.

Putin also stated that the United States and other members of NATO “are not disposed to properly accept” Russia’s key demands for security guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull its troops back from Eastern Europe. He said Moscow will not accept talking about the other proposals the U.S. has put forward without discussing these top requests.

“We are prepared to follow a negotiating track, on the condition that all aspects are considered in a package, not separately from Russia’s principal proposals, whose implementation is an unconditional priority for us,” he told reporters.

Putin also said he “paid no attention” to the reports in Western media of Feb. 16 being the alleged date of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine that U.S. officials had given, calling it a “hoax.”

“I honestly just didn’t pay attention to it. There are plenty of hoaxes. Constantly reacting to them is more trouble than it’s worth,” he added. “We do whatever we see fit and will do so further down the road. Of course, we watch what is going on in the world and around us. But we have clear and comprehensible guidelines that correspond with the national interests of the people of Russia and the Russian state.”

Meanwhile, Lukashenko insisted that neither Belarus or Russia want a war and blamed the current tensions on the West. He said the massive joint military exercises currently being held in Belarus with Russia are directed at reinforcing their borders due to “growing military danger,” which he claimed was caused in part by Western countries “pumping Ukraine” with weapons.

“With the military danger growing on our borders and Ukraine being pumped with weapons, Belarus and Russia are forced to look for appropriate ways to repel potential attacks,” Lukashenko told reporters.

But the Belarusian leader also warned that, for the first time in decades, Europe is on the edge of a conflict that could “draw in almost the entire continent.”

“You see that it does not depend even on our neighbors, including Ukraine, anymore. It is also obvious to you who the exacerbation of tensions near our borders depends on,” Lukashenko said. “For the first time in decades, we have ended up on the verge of a conflict, which, unfortunately, is capable of drawing in almost the entire continent, like a vortex.”

“Today, we’re witnessing, in all its glory, irresponsibility and, forgive my frankness, the stupidity of a number of Western politicians,” he added, “and the behavior denying logic and reasonable explanations of the leaders of our neighboring states and their downright morbid desire to walk right on the edge.”

Feb 18, 9:55 am
Blinken: US ‘deeply concerned’ Russia ‘has embarked on’ wrong path

The United States is “deeply concerned” that Russia “has embarked on” the wrong path, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.

Speaking to reporters at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Blinken said Russia has deployed “additional forces” near neighboring Ukraine, “including leading edge forces that would be part of any aggression.” When asked about the reports of more shelling in eastern Ukraine, Blinken said it’s “part of a scenario that is already in play” for Moscow to claim a pretext for invasion.

“Even as we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure that this diplomatic path, that this has to resolved — differences have to be resolved through dialogue, through diplomacy,” Blinken told reporters, “we are deeply concerned that that is not the path that Russia has embarked on and that everything we’re seeing, including what you’ve described in the last 24 to 48 hours, is part of a scenario that is already in play of creating false provocations, of then having to respond to those provocations and then ultimately committing new aggression against Ukraine.”

Still, Blinken said he remains “hopeful” that the threat of sanctions and the supply of military aid to regional allies from the U.S. and others “will have an impact.”

Feb 18, 9:40 am
Russia-backed separatists announce mass evacuations

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have declared a mass evacuation of civilians, while accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of preparing to launch a full-scale invasion against the breakaway regions in the coming days.

Ukraine has immediately denied the claim, but the mass evacuation order is worrying as it raises the prospect the separatists may allege a Ukrainian offensive in the coming days that Russia would use as a pretext to attack its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas, delivered a public address to residents on Friday saying mass, centralized evacuations were now being organized, with women, children and the elderly going first.

Pushilin said the evacuation would be “temporary” and that Russia has agreed to provide evacuation centers in the neighboring Rostov region to house evacuees. The separatists’ leader also called on all able-bodied men to take up arms.

“I again appeal to all men able to hold a rifle in their hands, to come to the defense of their land,” Pushilin said in a televised address.

The announcement came amid a sharp escalation along the front line between Russia-backed separatist forces and Ukrainian government troops, with Ukraine accusing the separatists of unleashing a major bombardment in the past two days. Heavy firing has been reported since Thursday coming from the separatist areas, while the separatists have accused Ukrainian troops of firing on them.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 18, 8:40 am
US envoy: Russia has up to 190,000 forces, including separatists, menacing Ukraine

The United States believes Russia now has “probably” as many as 190,000 troops, including Russian-backed separatists forces, according to a U.S. envoy, in and around Ukraine amid fears that Russian capabilities of a full-fledged invasion continue to grow.

“We assess that Russia probably has massed between 169,000 to 190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine as compared with about 100,000 on January 30,” Michael Carpenter, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a statement Friday. “This estimate includes military troops along the border, in Belarus, and in occupied Crimea; Russian National Guard and other internal security units deployed to these areas; and Russian-led forces in eastern Ukraine.”

Unlike this latest assessment, previous estimations by U.S. officials did not include separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.

“While Russia has sought to downplay or deceive the world about their ground and air preparations, the Russian military has publicized its large-scale naval exercises in the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and the Arctic,” Carpenter said. “Russia has publicly said the Black Sea exercise alone involves more than 30 ships, and we assess that amphibious landing ships from the Northern and Baltic Fleets were sent to the Black Sea to augment forces there.”

The OSCE is a Cold War-era European security forum that has deployed a war monitor in eastern Ukraine for years and hosted talks on the current crisis with Russia. Its foundational documents have been used selectively by Moscow to paint Ukraine and NATO as a threat to Russia’s security, even as its envoy in Vienna has largely dismissed dialogue there.

Earlier this week, Ukraine requested an emergency OSCE meeting to demand Russia explain its massive military buildup after Moscow ignored Kyiv’s inquiry. Russia skipped Wednesday’s session just as it did Friday’s, where Carpenter delivered these remarks.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told his country’s parliament Friday that they assess Russia has about 149,000 troops near their borders.

-ABC News Conor Finnegan and Cindy Smith

Feb 18, 7:45 am
US to sell Poland $6 billion of tanks, more military aid

The United States announced Friday its plans to sell $6 billion of new military aid to Poland, amid the threat of war between neighboring Ukraine and Russia.

The proposed sale includes 250 Abrams main battle tanks, 250 short-range jamming systems that counter improvised explosive devices, 26 combat recovery vehicles, nearly 800 machines guns and much more, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of State.

The announcement came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw to discuss concerns regarding the massive buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials say position Moscow for an imminent invasion. Poland is a key eastern European ally to the U.S. and a fellow member of NATO.

“Some of those forces [are] within 200 miles of the Polish border,” Austin said during a joint press conference in the Polish capital on Friday. “If Russia further invades Ukraine, Poland could see tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians and others flowing across its border, trying to save themselves and their families from the scourge of war.”

Austin said the U.S. now has an additional 4,700 troops in Poland “who are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies.”

“They will work closely with our State Department and with Polish authorities should there be any need to help American citizens leave Ukraine,” he added.

The planned sale of more military aid to Poland “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” according to the State Department.

“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations,” the State Department said in a statement Friday. “Poland will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 18, 6:21 am
Kremlin expresses concern about escalation in Donbas

Russia is concerned about the ongoing escalation of tensions in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and believes the events unfolding there post a major potential threat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

“What is happening in Donbas is very disquieting news, which provokes concern,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “It is potentially very dangerous.”

When asked how Putin has been sleeping amid the rising tensions, Peskov said: “Equally well.” He then added after a brief pause: “But with one eye open.”

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva

Feb 18, 5:56 am
Putin to oversee massive nuclear drills on Saturday

Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee massive drills of his country’s strategic nuclear forces on Saturday, including test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday.

The defense ministry said in a statement that the drills were “planned” as part of large-scale military exercises currently taking place across Russia. Saturday’s drills are meant to check “the preparedness of military commands and crews of missile systems, warships and strategic bombers to accomplish their missions and at verifying the reliability of weapons of strategic nuclear and conventional forces,” according to the defense ministry.

“The exercise will involve forces and hardware belonging to the Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern Fleet, and the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will be at the defense ministry’s Situational Center during the drills Saturday and that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko might join him.

“Even test launches of this type are impossible without the head of state,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call Friday. “You all know about his famed ‘black briefcase,’ ‘the red button’ and so on.”

Peskov said the drills shouldn’t cause concern among other countries because they were notified of the upcoming exercises in advance.

When asked whether such drills could exacerbate tensions, Peskov replied: “Exercises and training launches of ballistic missiles are quite a regular training process. It is preceded by a whole series of notifications forwarded to different countries via various channels. All this is precisely regulated and no one has any questions or concerns.”

The drills will also coincide with the finale of the major joint military exercises in neighboring Belarus.

U.S. military officials have previously warned that Russia could conduct these drills now, saying the timing might be in order to signal to the West not to interfere in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It’s also another opportunity for posturing as Putin has done many times before, placing himself at the end of demonstrations of military might. In recent years he has repeatedly hailed a range of new Russian nuclear super weapons, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile and hypersonic weapons.

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell

Feb 18, 4:25 am
Lukashenko to meet Putin in Moscow

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, as their countries continue to hold massive joint military exercises that Western countries fear could be used to cover up preparations for a possible invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

While Russia and Belarus have said that Russian troops will leave after the drills conclude Sunday, the United States remains concerned they may stay.

Earlier this week, Lukashenko indicated that he and Putin would decide at their meeting Friday how long Russian troops would stay in Belarus. Video released by Belarusian state media showed the authoritarian leader arriving at Moscow’s airport Friday morning.

Russia has moved an unprecedented number of troops into Belarus as part of its wider military build-up near Ukraine. There is an estimated 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which is only a few hours drive north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Concerns have been heightened because Russia has moved most of the troops from its Eastern Military District in Russia’s Far East, some 6,000 miles away. Among them are many units required for an offensive, including long range artillery, fighter bombers, attack helicopters and airborne troops.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office

President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.

A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”

Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.

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