Ukraine row: Russia massed up to 190,000 personnel, says US

Bloomberg

The US said Russia has massed as many as 190,000 personnel — including troops, National Guard units and Russian-backed separatists – in and around Ukraine in what it called the most significant military mobilisation since World War II.
Russia told the US that it has no plans to attack, and officials in Moscow have repeatedly dismissed US warnings about a possible invasion as “hysteria” and propaganda.
The buildup has sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity between allies and adversaries. US President Joe Biden will speak with transatlantic leaders about the Kremlin’s troop movements. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will also talk to his US counterpart Lloyd Austin by phone, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Europe next week.
Children, women and elderly people began leaving for Russia due to an escalation in fighting along the line of contact with Ukrainian forces, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said.
The separatists have an agreement with the government of the neighbouring Russian region of Rostov to host people, Denis Pushilin said in remarks posted on separatists’ Donetsk News Agency website.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has observed a spike in violence in Donbas this week, recording about three times the average number of ceasefire violations on Wednesday.
The ruble erased gains of almost 1% against the dollar, trading little changed as of 4:26 p.m. in Moscow. Stocks extended losses, with the benchmark MOEX index retreating 2.8% as bluechips Gazprom and Sberbank slid.
US Vice President Kamala Harris called the situation in Ukraine “a dynamic moment in time” and vowed to stay close to allies, checking in hourly, if necessary.
In her first public remarks since arriving in Germany
for the Munich Security Conference, Harris stressed support for Nato in a meeting with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Harris said the US backs diplomacy with Russia, “but we are also committed to taking corrective actions to ensure there will be severe consequences” if President Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine. Moscow denies any intention to invade.
The US estimates Russia has massed between 169,000 and 190,000 personnel in and around Ukraine, including separatists in breakaway regions in Donbas, the head of its mission to the OSCE said at a meeting in Vienna.
The number of personnel has risen from 100,000 on January 30, according to Ambassador Michael Carpenter. The count includes forces in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.