US and Nato say Russia is building up troops near Ukraine, not withdrawing

The Russian defence ministry said its forces were pulling back after exercises near Ukraine, but the US said key Russian units were moving towards the border, not away

The Ukraine government said a cyberattack that hit the defence ministry was the worst the country had seen. It blamed Russia, which denied involvement

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Ukrainian police officers patrol a street in central Kyiv on February 16. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:30pm, 16 Feb 2022Updated: 11:17pm, 16 Feb 2022

The United States and Nato said Russia was still building up troops around Ukraine on Wednesday despite Moscow’s insistence it was pulling back, questioning President Vladimir Putin’s stated desire to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

In Ukraine, where people raised flags and played the national anthem to show unity against fears of an invasion, the government said a cyberattack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind that the country had seen. It pointed the finger towards Russia, which denied involvement.

The Russian defence ministry said its forces were pulling back after exercises in southern and Western military districts near Ukraine – part of a huge Russian build-up that was accompanied by demands for sweeping security guarantees from the United States and Nato.

A drone carries a Ukrainian flag above Independence Square to mark a “Day of Unity” in Kyiv on February 16. Photo: AFP

It published video that it said showed tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery units leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said key Russian units were moving towards the border, not away.

“There’s what Russia says. And then there’s what Russia does. And we haven’t seen any pullback of its forces,” Blinken said in an interview on MSNBC. “We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border.”

What Washington wanted to see was exactly the opposite, he said. “We need to see these forces moving away.”