The latest on the Ukraine-Russia border crisis

The Senate late Thursday approved a symbolic resolution condemning Russia after failing to move a binding package of sanctions, showing the divisions that remain over Washington’s response to the Russia-Ukraine crisis even as members from both parties try to present a unified front. 

The resolution, which almost didn’t make it to the Senate floor before a week-long recess after Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, objected to it, condemns Russia for its aggressive actions towards Ukraine.

Paul objected because the original draft of the resolution didn’t include clear language ensuring nothing in the resolution could be construed as an authorization of force or an authorization to use troops, he told CNN.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who spearheaded the resolution with Republican Sen. Rob Portman, said the disagreements from both Republicans and Democrats had been resolved Thursday evening before the last series of Senate votes ahead of the recess, which allowed the resolution to pass by voice vote before the Senate gaveled out for the week.

While the resolution is a bipartisan declaration against Russia’s actions towards Ukraine, the step is a far cry from where Republicans and Democrats started weeks ago with talks of a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill. The sanctions bill, many senators believed, would have sent a strong and tangible message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his actions towards Ukraine would have real, economic consequences. 

But the sanctions bill stalled after Republicans and Democrats could not agree on several key points including whether to impose sanctions before a Russian invasion of Ukraine and how to handle the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Sen. Jim Risch, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, killed the last shreds of hope left for a bipartisan agreement on sanctions earlier in the week when he introduced his Republican-only Russia sanctions bill, the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act.

Earlier Thursday: President Biden warned that he believed an attack would happen “within the next several days.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a stop at the UN Security Council before heading to Munich to warn them that Russia was laying the groundwork to justify starting a war and preparing to launch an attack on Ukraine in the coming days.

The Democratic Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Thursday that there have been no discussions of bringing the Senate back from their scheduled recess if Russia invades Ukraine.

“Nobody’s talked about that,” said Durbin, when asked if there’s any indication if Russia does choose to invade whether they’d bring the Senate back into session.

At a tense United Nations Security Council meeting on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia is laying the groundwork to launch an attack on Ukraine and justify starting a war.

Blinken said such an attack could come in the coming days and urged Moscow to change plans.

“I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one,” Blinken said. 

The US Secretary of State altered his travel plans so as to be able to attend and speak at Thursday’s meeting. The United States’ top diplomat noted that he was offering intelligence about Russia’s plan to fabricate a reason for an invasion of Ukraine so as to “influence Russia to abandon the path of war and choose a different path while there’s still time.”

According to the US, there is evidence at Ukraine’s border indicating Russia is “moving towards an imminent invasion” and is not withdrawing troops, despite claims to the contrary.

Blinken’s comments, coupled with those of others — including President Biden’s warning that he believed an attack would happen “within the next several days” — display a greater sense of certainty from the administration that Russia’s actions signal that the country is moving forward with plans for war.

“Every indication that we have is that they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House on Thursday.

Russia once again dismissed the notion it was preparing to attack Ukraine as “baseless accusations.”

Read more here.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida initiated a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday evening, according to the Kremlin. 

“In connection with the interest shown by the Prime Minister of Japan, the President of Russia informed in detail about the ongoing work with the United States and its NATO allies to promote the initiative to develop long-term legal security guarantees of the Russian Federation,” according to the statement from the Kremlin.

“In addition, Vladimir Putin spoke in detail about the origins and causes of the intra-Ukrainian conflict, outlining the fundamental Russian approaches to its settlement in accordance with the Minsk Package of Measures and the decisions adopted in the Normandy format,” the Kremlin statement continued.

The leaders agreed to keep in touch.

Ukraine’s United Nations Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said Thursday that a potential Russian invasion is a “hanging threat” over their country and that Russian representatives continue to evade questions on it.

“We see a hanging threat over us. It’s been hanging since last year when the initial buildup of the troops began,” Kyslytsya told reporters after a UN Security Council meeting Thursday. “I regret, as some of my colleagues already said, that instead of giving clear-cut replies…the Russian side was very evasive.”

Kyslytsya added that despite reports that Russia has withdrawn a number of troops at the border in recent days, “neither [their] intelligence nor the intelligence of [their] partners can verify or corroborate this information.”

The Ukrainian ambassador also said he has not met with his Russian counterpart, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, on the matter, despite UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asking him to sit down with him.

Kyslytsya said he is “always ready to negotiate,” but has not met with Nebenzia “either because he has some issues or because he doesn’t really want to sit down with me. We never had conversations with him.”

Kyslytsya also said that there are ongoing conversations between Ukraine and their international partners with respect to strengthening their defense capabilities and said Ukraine’s current army is much stronger today than it was several years ago. He asserted that the ongoing conflict is not just between Russia and Ukraine, but constitutes a “joint responsibility of every single country here in the United Nations.” 

Should a Russian attack occur, Kyslytsya said he believes “by the end of the day, responsible members of the international community will assess the situation, will assess the legal framework, and will undertake all necessary measures.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has just arrived in Munich, Germany, to attend the Munich Security Conference.

The foreign trip is perhaps Harris’ most high-stakes trip of her vice presidency yet.

The conference comes as Russia amasses forces on Ukraine’s border and the Biden administration has taken a central role in rallying Western nations and other allies to the Ukrainian cause. 

Senior administration officials said Wednesday that Harris will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this weekend while at the conference, her first meeting with the Ukrainian leader.

The vice president will maintain a “very intense” schedule when she is in Munich, the senior administration officials said. The meeting with Zelensky will be one of several high-level meetings Harris will hold.

CNN’s Jasmine Wright contributed reporting to this post.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine “continues to be very grim.” 

“The picture in Ukraine continues to be very grim. This weekend I will travel to the [Munich Security Conference] for discussions with partners,” he said in a tweet. 

“The West is united: De-escalation and dialogue is the only way forward,” he reiterated. 

Earlier on Thursday, British defense ministry said its latest intelligence assessment suggests that Russia could invade Ukraine “without further warning.” 

View his tweet here:

Monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reported a sharp escalation in ceasefire violations along the frontlines dividing Ukrainian and separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. 

The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine reported in their latest daily bulletin that in the 24 hours until 7:30 p.m. local time on Feb. 16, they recorded 189 ceasefire violations in the Donetsk region, including 128 explosions.

In the previous reporting period, it recorded 24 ceasefire violations in the region. In Luhansk region, the mission recorded 402 ceasefire violations, including 188 explosions, when in the previous reporting period, it recorded 129 ceasefire violations in the region. 

The SMM reported that a member of the armed formations [separatist forces] threatened an SMM patrol at a training area in the Luhansk region. 

“The Mission’s freedom of movement continued to be restricted, including at a heavy weapons holding area in a government-controlled area of Luhansk region, at a permanent storage site and a heavy weapons holding area in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region, and at a training area in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region,” it said.  

“Its unmanned aerial vehicles again encountered instances of GPS signal interference, assessed as caused by probable jamming,” it continued.

The violations continued on Thursday. A resident of the city of Donetsk — which is controlled by the separatists — told CNN that shelling in her district had been the heaviest in two years. There was no clarity on where that fire had originated from.  

The OSCE said that on Thursday as a result of “allegations of civilian casualties and damage to civilian properties and infrastructure sites over the past 24 hours, the Mission rerouted a number of its patrols in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including to a kindergarten and a railway station in Stanitsya Luhanska (government-controlled, 16km north-east of Luhansk).” 

The kindergarten was hit by artillery fire early Thursday. Two people suffered minor injuries, according to Ukrainian authorities.  

Both sides in the conflict accused the other of ceasefire violations Thursday. The Ukrainian defense ministry said that as of 2 p.m. local time Thursday its forces recorded “34 ceasefire violations committed by the Russian occupation forces, 28 of which by using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.” 

The Donetsk People’s Republic said Thursday that “Since the beginning of the current day, Ukrainian militants have violated the ceasefire 22 times.” 

Russia’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin said Thursday that it’s their country’s “sovereign right” to consider their security and station their troops where they are needed for national defense. 

“If we do something, we do this having in mind our national interests, and the interests of our national security,” Vershinin told reporters after Thursday’s Security Council meeting on the Minsk agreement. “This is our sovereign right to think about our security … and also to have our troops where we believe they are important for the defense, once more for the defense, of the Russian Federation.”

Vershinin said allegations that Russia plans to invade Ukraine are tantamount to “hysteria” and echoed earlier assertions by Russian officials that officials in Western countries are fueling it. 

“I believe that now we look at our partners in western capitals to drop and to stop this hysteria about the intentions of Russia in the region,” Vershinin said, adding that their commitment is to the “de-escalation and peaceful solution of this crisis.”

“I believe in diplomacy and I’m glad that our partners believe in diplomacy. Certainly we should do all that is possible to find a diplomatic and peaceful solution for this,” Vershinin said, calling the conflict an “inter-Ukrainian crisis.”

A pontoon bridge built across a key river in Belarus less than four miles from the Ukrainian border has been removed, according to new satellite images and sources familiar with the matter. 

Western intelligence and military officials had closely tracked the bridge construction as part of the support infrastructure Russia is putting in place in advance of a potential invasion, three sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN.

Satellite images from Maxar and Planet Labs showed the appearance of the tactical bridge virtually overnight on Tuesday.  

But by Thursday, the bridge was already gone. 

It was not immediately clear why it had been constructed or removed. It’s possible that the bridge was used as part of what Russia has claimed are merely exercises inside Belarus, its closest international ally in the standoff on Ukraine border. It’s also possible that Russian or Belarusian forces deployed there — forces that Western officials assess could be used to invade Ukraine from the north — already moved materiel across and no longer needed it.  

According to Western intelligence assessments, Russian President Vladimir Putin is positioned to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine at any time — although the U.S. still does not believe he has made a decision yet.

The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US is “deeply concerned” that Russia has chosen the path of confrontation with Ukraine, instead of de-escalation. 

“For the second time in two weeks, the rest of the Security Council has delivered a clear, unambiguous message to Russia to pursue the diplomatic path. Do not pursue the path of confrontation. Unfortunately, we are deeply concerned that this is the path Russia has chosen,” Thomas-Greenfield said during a stakeout after Thursday’s UN Security Council meeting. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken challenged Russia to state that it has no intention to invade Ukraine today at the UN Security Council meeting, but she said that the remarks from Russia in recent days have been “incendiary rhetoric.”

The Russian Duma’s recommendation this week that the Kremlin formally recognize parts of the Donbas as an independent state “shows Russia’s total contempt” for the Minsk agreements, Thomas-Greenfield said. 

“Political resolutions to years-long conflict cannot happen at the barrel of a gun,” she said, adding that there is “only one country making threats” and that country is Russia. 

The US hopes Russia does not invade Ukraine but fears the worst she said. 

“As Secretary Blinken said this morning, we very much hope that Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine and proves us wrong. But we fear the worst,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “That is why today the Security Council once again, urge rest of Russia to pursue the path of diplomacy. 

She said every single UN member state has a stake in this brewing crisis. 

“This is a moment for collective action,” she said. “There is too much at risk for anyone to sit on the fence.”

Sergey Vershinin, Russia’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, reiterated at Thursday’s United Nations Security Council meeting that Russian troops at the Ukrainian border remain on Russian land conducting drills.

“The fact is that the Russian forces were in the Russian territory and remain on the Russian territory,” Vershinin said. “My country is conducting drills in our own territory in the regime that we deem needed.”

Vershinin added that his country’s government is “ready for a dialogue … not imitation dialogue, but a real one.”

United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield responded to Vershinin’s comments by saying she hoped her Russian counterpart would announce that they do not plan to invade Ukraine. 

“Instead, it was a continuation of the disinformation and the rhetoric that we continue to hear, and we’ve heard before,” Thomas-Greenfield said. 

“Let me just say clearly … we will continue to intensify, we will continue to escalate our diplomatic efforts, and we call for Russia to cease confrontation and accept our invitation to dialogue.” Thomas-Greenfield said. “I will end by saying what [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] said today: he did not come here to promote war, but he came here to prevent war and to find a way to a peaceful solution.”

Russia could invade Ukraine “without further warning,” according to the latest intelligence from the British defense ministry.  

“Russia retains a significant military presence that can conduct an invasion without further warning,” it warned in a tweet Thursday.  

The tweet included a map of “President Putin’s possible axis of invasion,” which showed Russia being capable of carrying out phase one ground movement towards Kyiv from two points along the Belarusian border and one point from the Western Russia border.  

The map additionally showed the possibility of phase one ground movements towards Dnipro from two points and from Crimea towards Mariupol.  

The map also displayed potential phase two ground movements from Crimea towards Mykolaiv and from Dnipro towards Vinnytsya.  It also showed potential phase one ground movements from the Western Russian border towards the direction of Luhansk.   

Based on this intelligence, Putin “still can choose to prevent conflict and preserve peace,” the ministry emphasized.  

View the tweet from the British Ministry of Defence, below:

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has accused Russian-backed separatists of using a tank to carry out artillery fire in eastern Ukraine, adding that authorities had, as of 3 p.m. local time, “tallied 42 instances of gunfire in the area.”

“The enemy fired at the Ukrainian territories with heavy artillery forbidden by the Minsk Agreement,” Kuleba said Thursday, highlighting that a tank was also used for shelling. 

Speaking during a news briefing alongside his British counterpart, Liz Truss, the Ukrainian foreign minister accused Russia of spreading disinformation to blame Ukraine for the incident. 

“These shells came from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, which are controlled by Russia,” Kuleba told members of the press in Kyiv. 

“Russian propaganda is trying to falsify reality and blame Ukraine for this shelling, but we are confident that they won’t succeed,” he added. 

Both Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine reported renewed shelling in the region early Thursday.

The Ukrainian armed forces said that “Russian occupation troops shelled the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska.” Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a statement Thursday that “Ukrainian Forces fired in response to suppress enemy’s activity, strictly adhering to the Minsk agreements.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the reports of shellfire were a matter of “very, very deep concern” but added that there were no plans to discuss the matter with the Ukrainian government.

Video and images confirmed by CNN show that a kindergarten in Ukrainian-controlled territory was hit by a shell Thursday. The kindergarten is less than five kilometers from the front lines that separate Ukrainian troops from the Russian-backed forces of the breakaway regions. CNN has not established who initiated the exchange of fire. 

Russia’s deputy minister for foreign affairs said at Thursday’s United Nations Security Council meeting that the Ukrainian government is not adhering to its obligations under the Minsk agreement, and attempts to blame Russia are “futile and baseless.” 

“We are increasingly thinking that the implementation of the Minsk agreement is not something that’s in the plans of our Ukrainian neighbors,” Sergey Vershinin said in translated remarks. “Seven years down the road, it is clear that none of the provisions of the package of measures have been implemented by Ukraine in full, starting with the first one – ceasefire.”

The United States and other countries have said that Russia is to blame for the failure of the Minsk agreement’s full implementation. 

Vershinin refuted claims that Russia was not adhering to its own obligations, saying there is “absolutely no grounds for that,” given there is no mention of Russia in the agreement’s text. 

“Attempts to place blame on Russia are futile and baseless. And this only hides the goal of shifting the blame away from Ukraine. I must say, we are very disappointed by the…position of our Western colleagues who are trying not to see obvious things,” Vershinin said. 

The Russian representative, who was the first country-representative speaker at Thursday’s meeting, told other subsequent speakers to not make the meeting a “circus” and to not present “baseless accusations saying that Russia allegedly was going to attack Ukraine.”

“We have long ago clarified everything and explained everything. And the announced date of this so-called invasion is behind us, so therefore…my advice to you is [to] not present yourself in an awkward situation,” Vershinin said. 

In remarks to the UN, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that intelligence clearly indicates that the buildup of Russian forces signals an attack against Ukraine in “the coming days.”

As world leaders scramble to find a diplomatic solution over the ongoing Russia-Ukraine tensions, talk has turned to the 2015 Minsk Agreement as a possible way out of the crisis.

The agreement, the second of its kind (and the one that matters), was hammered out in the Belarusian capital in a bid to end what was then a bloody 10-month conflict in eastern Ukraine.

But Minsk II has never been fully implemented, with its key issues still unresolved.

Here’s what you need to know:

Who are the key players? A rare meeting between Russian, Ukrainian, German and French leaders in February 2015 sought to bring peace to areas of Ukraine that had been taken over by pro-Russian separatists the year before. Those areas, in Ukraine’s Donbas region, became known as the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The Ukrainian government in Kyiv asserted the two regions were in effect Russian-occupied.

The talks also aimed to work towards a political settlement for the region.

The result, Minsk II, was signed by representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the separatist leaders and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It was subsequently endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution.

What were the conditions of the agreement? A ceasefire. In February 2015, there was still heavy fighting in some areas between Ukrainian forces and Russian-supported rebels, with the Ukrainians taking heavy losses.

The withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the frontlines.

That the OSCE — a 57-member security organization that also includes the US and Canada — monitor the frontlines.

A dialogue on local elections in areas occupied by pro-Russian rebels.

The restoration of full economic and social links between the two sides, so that, for example, pensions could be paid.

That Ukrainian government control be restored over the border with Russia.

The withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries.

Constitutional reform that would provide some autonomy to the regions of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region no longer under the central government’s control.

Read the full story here.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday that despite Russia’s claims, its military buildup around Ukraine “shows no signs of slowing down.” 

“There is currently no evidence that forces are withdrawing. Russia must step back from the brink. The Kremlin has had every offer of diplomacy… Time after time, they have chosen not to engage with these proposals but to obfuscate and object,” Truss said in Kyiv following a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.  

“Russia claims its being threatened, but what is the real threat? It’s not NATO’s defensive alliance; the real threat is more than 100,000 battle-ready troops massed on the border of this sovereign state,” she said.   

“Russia thinks that NATO should not expand; the truth is that countries want to join NATO. People want insurance and they see safety in numbers, and this is only accelerated by Russia’s belligerence,” the foreign secretary added.  

She went on to say that even if Russia pulls back from its border with Ukraine, the “problem will not have gone away. The free world needs to draw a line under a decade of drift.” 

Truss said she was surprised by seeing “China’s leaders aligning themselves with the Kremlin” as Beijing claims “a policy of non-interference.”  

“If China wants to be seen as a responsible global actor, they should be doing everything possible to ensure that Russia steps back,” she added.  

Truss blamed Russia for “violating its commitments, and probing our weaknesses” for years and urged the West to “wise up.”  

“In dangerous times, we have to take a hard-headed approach. That includes being ready to accept short-term pain for long-term gain, whether through imposing tough sanctions, for cutting strategic dependence by opposing Nord Stream 2,” she added.  

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday accused Russia of fabricating a pretext to invade Ukraine by attacking a kindergarten in Donbas. 

According to the Ukrainian armed forces, in a shelling by “Russian occupation troops” on the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska, the kindergarten in the Ukrainian-controlled territory was hit by Thursday.  

Video and images confirmed by CNN show that it was hit by a shell in the attack on the community.

While Johnson told reporters the attack was a “false flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians, designed to create a pretext, a spurious provocation for Russian action,” this particular incident should not be conclusively termed a false flag operation by Russia intended to blame Ukraine for an attack on its own community.  

However, world leaders including US President Biden, have accused Russia of carrying out “false flag” operations in recent days designed to blunt the impact of any pretext Russia may use to invade Ukraine.  

Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine have said there has been renewed shelling in the Donbas region, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calling the kindergarten shelling “a big provocation.” 

“We fear very much that that is the kind of thing we’ll see more of over the next few days,” Johnson warned, adding that if Russia was “so mad as to invade,” it would result in a bloody and protracted conflict.” 

Johnson reiterated that that the UK will apply heavy economic sanctions on Russia should it invade Ukraine, but continued: “I do think there is still time for the Putin regime to step back.”

“If Russia was so mad as to invade, I don’t think people should imagine that this will be a brief business. This will be a bloody and protracted conflict in which I’m afraid that there will be many casualties, including many Russian casualties and I just hope that people in Russia can see that for what it is,” Johnson said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he proposed meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Europe next week in a letter to continue the diplomatic path to resolving the crisis created by Russia massing troops near Ukraine’s borders, as well as meetings of the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

“These meetings can pave the way for a summit of key leaders in the context of de-escalation, to reach understandings on our mutual security concerns,” Blinken said at an address to the United Nations Security Council.

Blinken said these meetings present “every opportunity” for Russia to demonstrate its commitment to a diplomatic resolution.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was speaking to the United Nations about Russia and Ukraine “not to start a war, but to prevent one.”

“I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one. The information I presented here is validated by what we’ve seen unfolding in plain sight before our eyes for months. And remember that while Russia has repeatedly derided our warnings and alarms as melodrama and nonsense, they’ve been steadily amassing more than 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders as well as the capabilities to conduct a massive military assault. It isn’t just us seeing this. Allies and partners see the same thing,” Blinken said.

He urged Russia to use diplomacy as a solution to the crisis.

“And Russia isn’t only hearing from us. The international chorus has grown louder and louder,” the US official said. “If Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine, then we will be relieved that Russia changed course and proved our predictions wrong. That would be a far better outcome than the course we’re currently on, and we’ll gladly accept any criticism that anyone directs at us.”

Blinken said he sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposing they meet next week in Europe. He is also proposing meetings of the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

“These meetings can pave the way for a summit of key leaders in the context of deescalation to reach understandings on our mutual security concerns. As lead diplomats for our nations, we have a responsibility to make every effort for diplomacy to succeed, to leave no diplomatic stone unturned,” he said.

He said Russia will likely respond with dismissals that the US is “stoking hysteria.”

“The Russian government can announce today with no qualifications, equivocation or deflection that Russia will not invade Ukraine, stated clearly, stated plainly to the world — and then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes, back to hangars and sending diplomats to the negotiating table. In the coming days, the world will remember that commitment. Or the refusal to make it,” he concluded.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed misinformation that he said Russia continues to spread as it targets Ukraine and possible ways Moscow may attack, saying he hoped to “influence Russia to abandon the path of war and choose a different path while there’s still time.”

“We don’t know precisely how things will play out. But here’s what the world can expect to see unfold,” Blinken said.

“First, Russia plans to manufacture a pretext for its attack. … We don’t know exactly the form it will take. It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia. The invented discovery of the mass grave, a staged drone strike against civilians or a fake, even a real attack using chemical weapons,” he said.

“Russia may describe this event as ethnic cleansing or a genocide, making a mockery of a concept that we in this chamber do not take lightly, nor do I take lightly based on my family history. In the past few days, Russian media has already begun to spread some of these false alarms and claims to maximize public outrage, to lay the groundwork for an inventive justification for war. Today, that only intensified in Russia’s state controlled media. We’ve heard the allegations from Russian backed speakers here today,” Blinken continued.  

Then, he said, “the highest levels of the Russian government may theatrically convene crisis and Russia must respond to defend citizens or ethnic Russians in Ukraine.”

There may be conventional attacks, or they could take the form of cyberattacks and could target specific groups of Ukrainians, he said.

He also warned that Russia is planning to “target specific groups of Ukrainians.”

CNN’s Michael Conte, Jennifer Hansler and Christin Sierra contributed reporting to this post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the Ukraine-Russia crisis a “moment of peril” while addressing the United Nations Security Council in New York Thursday.

“The most immediate threat to peace and security is Russia’s looming aggression against Ukraine. The stakes go far beyond Ukraine. This is a moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people as well as for the foundation of the United Nations charter and the rules-based international order that preserves stability worldwide,” Blinken said.

“We must address what Russia is doing right now to Ukraine,” he said.

Blinken said that intelligence clearly indicates that the buildup of Russian forces signals an attack against Ukraine in “the coming days.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is addressing the United Nations Security Council as Ukraine-Russia tensions continue to unfold and the US warns an invasion could be near.

“Every indication that we have is that they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine,” President Biden told reporters as he left the White House on Thursday.

Russia expelled the second-most senior diplomat at the US embassy in Moscow without any justification Thursday, in what the Biden administration views as an escalatory move, the State Department said.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Blinken was addressing the UN because “this is a crucial moment.”

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin today also said the US government is not seeing any kind of withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s border, instead seeing Russia adding to its capabilities and troops “even in the last couple of days.”

During a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Austin said the US is seeing Russia move some troops closer to the border, “fly in more combat and support aircraft,” “sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea” and even “stocking up their blood supplies.

Russia expelled the second-most senior diplomat at the US embassy in Moscow without any justification in what the Biden administration views as an “escalatory” move, the State Department said on Thursday. 

“We can confirm that Russia expelled US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) to Russia Bart Gorman. DCM Gorman was the second-most senior official at U.S. Embassy Moscow after the Ambassador and a key member of the Embassy’s senior leadership team,” a State Department spokesperson said. 

Gorman departed Moscow last week, according to a senior State Department official, and returned to the US. He was expelled by Moscow earlier this year and was given two weeks to depart.

The US is considering its response.

This diplomatic issue comes to the fore amid growing concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

More background: Russia has continually forced the US to reduce the size of its diplomatic footprint in the country in recent years. Gorman’s tour in Russia had not ended, he had a valid visa, and he had been in Russia less than three years, the spokesperson added. 

“We call on Russia to end its baseless expulsions of U.S. diplomats and staff and to work productively to rebuild our missions. Now more than ever, it is critical that our countries have the necessary diplomatic personnel in place to facilitate communication between our governments,” the spokesperson said. 

Moscow said “increasing US and NATO military activity close to Russian borders is alarming” in its 11-page formal response published by state news agency RIA-Novosti to a written document from the United States over Russia’s security demands.

The written response, which was handed to US Ambassador John J. Sullivan at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, said: 

“We state that the American side did not give a constructive response to the basic elements of the project prepared by the Russian side agreements with the United States on security guarantees. It’s about giving up the further expansion of NATO, about the withdrawal of the ‘Bucharest formula’, whereby ‘Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO’, and the refusal to create military bases on the territory of states formerly part of the USSR and non-members of the NATO alliance, including the use of their infrastructure to conduct any military activity, and the return of NATO military capabilities, including strike capabilities, and infrastructure to the 1997 status, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed. These stipulations are of fundamental importance to the Russian Federation.” 

The response also said that US and NATO military activity in the region is “alarming.” 

“Our ‘red lines’ and core security interests, as well as Russia’s sovereign right to protect them, continue to be ignored. Ultimate demands to withdraw troops from certain areas on Russian territory, accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions, are unacceptable and undermine the prospects for reaching real agreements,” it said.

Some more background: The US received the response from Russia today after the US gave a written document to Russia three weeks ago, a senior State Department official said.

The written document that the US gave to Russia had set “out a serious diplomatic path forward should Russia choose it,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in January. 

Russian forces massed along Ukraine’s borders have increased by approximately 7,000 troops in recent days, the United States alleged Wednesday evening, despite claims from Moscow it was pulling back.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.

Russia is continuing to build up its forces around the Ukrainian border, with up to nearly half of Moscow’s battle groups surrounding Ukraine now within 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) of the border, Western officials said Thursday.

Speaking during an intelligence briefing, the officials said that Russia retains “exceptional force” on Ukraine’s border and has the military mass in place to conduct an invasion of Ukraine, adding that of the 14 battlegroups believed to have been in transit toward the border earlier in the week, a significant number have now arrived in place.

In addition to the buildup of troops, the officials noted the construction of a pontoon bridge over the past 72 hours, which they described as being highly unusual and inconsistent with any past military exercises.

They also noted three additional vessels arriving at dock in Crimea and the addition of military vehicles and helicopters in Valyiuki in southwest Russia, which is 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) from Ukraine’s border. 

Responding to reports by both the Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine of renewed shelling in the Donbas region early Thursday, the Western officials said their sensors did not pick up evidence to support the use of artillery. 

The officials added that there have been routine exchanges for several years, but said that they have seen no evidence to support a spike at present. 

The Biden administration believes that Russia could try to use the meeting at the UN Security Council (UNSC) today “as part of an attempt to establish a pretext for a potential invasion,” said a senior administration official, adding that Russia circulated a document with false claims last night to the countries in the UNSC. 

“Earlier this week, President Putin without any factual basis accused Ukraine of committing genocide in eastern Ukraine. And last night, the Russian Mission to the United Nations circulated to the members of the Security Council, a document it calls ‘a joint project of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and RT news channel,’ which alleges that war crimes have been committed in the course of the armed conflict in southeastern Ukraine. Each of these allegations are categorically false,” the official said. “I expect that you will hear Russia repeat these claims in today’s meeting, and we should expect more false reports from Russian state media over the coming days.” 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken decided overnight to attend the meeting, after a series of meetings between the White House, the State Department and the National Security Council, the US Ambassador to the UN said Thursday morning. 

When asked about the reports of shelling in the Donbas overnight the official said they were “hesitant to speak to any particular new fact that has come in in just the last few hours” but pointed to the wide-ranging false comments from Russia in recent days.

The official also said that: “What we have been saying now for a number of weeks is that we have indications that Russia could launch a false pretext at any moment to help justify an invasion of Ukraine. And that pretext could take a number of different forms. It could be a provocation in the Donbas. It could be a claim about NATO activity. It could be a claim of an incursion into Russian territory. And we’ve already seen over the last few days a number of false claims by Russia, including as I mentioned the reports of an unmarked grave of civilians allegedly killed by the Ukrainian armed forces. We’ve seen statements that the US and Ukraine are developing biological or chemical weapons, and that the west is funneling, you know, guerilla fighters in to kill locals in the Donbas. Each of these allegations is categorically false.”

There has been a substantial uptick in claims of violations of ceasefire — by both sides.

Luhansk and Donetsk are working overtime to accuse Ukrainians of all sorts of nefarious plans. Among the allegations: Heavy weapons being brought forward, anti-tank missiles being used and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly ordering offensive action. No evidence, however, has advanced so far, in terms of civilian casualties or heavy duty attacks.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement following the delivery of Russia’s formal response to a written document from the US over Russia’s security demands.

The statement said, “On February 17 of this year, US Ambassador J. Sullivan, invited to @MID_Russia [the Russian MFA], was given a reaction to the previously received American response on the Russian draft treaty between Russia and the United States on security guarantees.” 

The statement was posted on the ministry’s Telegram account:

“❗ We state that the American side did not give a constructive response to the basic elements of the draft treaty with the United States prepared by the Russian side on security guarantees.
The package nature of Russian proposals was ignored, from which “convenient” topics were deliberately chosen, which, in turn, were “twisted” in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and its allies.
The growing military activity of the United States and NATO directly at Russian borders is alarming.
☝️ In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees to ensure our security from the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures.”

As he departed the White House, President Biden told reporters this morning that the US has “reason to believe” Russia is “engaged in a false flag operation.” 

He said the Russian responses have been sent but he hasn’t read them yet. 

He noted Secretary of State Antony Blinken will go to the United Nations today and will lay out a diplomatic path, reiterating that “there is a path.”

Biden added he has “no plans to call Putin.”

He spoke for under two minutes before boarding Marine One to travel to Ohio.

The European Union is prepared to present a “full package of sanctions” on Russia “as soon as needed,” the EU’s foreign affairs chief said Thursday. 

“We have already prepared a full package of sanctions. We have been working on that, and I have been in touch with the US and with all likeminded countries, with the technical support of the [European] Commission,” European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said. 

Speaking ahead of an informal meeting of European Council members to discuss the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Borrell reiterated that the European Union “still believes in the diplomatic process” and will concentrate efforts on diplomacy, but cautioned that the EU will “act decisively” if needed. 

“If there is aggression, I will immediately call the Foreign Affairs Council to propose the package of sanctions, and I’m sure that — even though unanimity is required — the council will approve them,” Borrell said.  

“When the moment comes, we will act decisively, when the level of intensity of the aggression requires,” he added. 

During Russian-Belarusian joint military drills, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen on Thursday that Western intelligence is “useless,” while speaking about the possible threat of an attack from Belarusian territory toward Ukraine.

“You have to admit — if you have any shame at all — that you missed this period under the eyes of the whole global community. You accused Belarus and Russia that we were to invade Ukraine yesterday. We didn’t. So your intelligence and billions of dollars that you’re spending on it are useless. At least admit this!” Lukashenko said.

 Lukashenko reaffirmed his support for Russia’s position, saying the two countries have “practically formed a united army.”

“We have an agreement between Belarus and Russia, we have practically formed here a united Russia-Belarus group, a united army that is, you might say. And this is our official position. Please take it into account as we are taking into account your position,” Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian president went on asking about legitimacy of Western military experts in Ukraine.

“And on a broader subject — what are you doing here, thousands of kilometers [away]?” Lukashenko said.

“Your [military] experts in Ukraine? Your troops close to Poland, in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia? What do you have here? Thousands of kilometers away! So you shouldn’t hold it up against us. There no troops of ours in Canada or Mexico, such as infantrymen, for example. So calm down,” he said.

Some background: Western officials have expressed skepticism about Russian announcements that some of the troops assembled close to the border with Ukraine are returning to their bases. New satellite images from Maxar Technologies on Wednesday showed that in several regions close to Ukraine, Russian forces are consolidating and adding to their positions. Several units that had been gathered in camps in southern Belarus have been dispersed.

The satellite images also show new road construction and a tactical bridge being built across a key river in Belarus less than four miles from the Ukrainian border, amid what sources say is an ongoing buildup of Russian military forces encircling three sides of Ukraine. 

Western intelligence and military officials are closely tracking the construction as part of the support infrastructure Russia is putting in place in advance of a potential invasion, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. It’s unclear whether Russian forces or Belarus is constructing the bridge. Belarus is Russia’s closest international ally in the standoff and is currently hosting Russian troops and equipment as part of what Russia insists are “exercises.”

CNN’s Katie Bo Lills, Natasha Bertrand, Tim Lister and Paul Murphy contributed reporting to this post.

The United States has received a response from Russia today after the US gave a written document to Russia three weeks ago, a senior State Department official said on Thursday.

“We can confirm that we have received a response from the Russian Federation. It was delivered to Ambassador Sullivan in Moscow today,” a senior State Department official said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier today that Moscow would send its response to the US on security guarantees today, following a meeting with his Italian counterpart. Lavrov said Moscow will also make the letter public.

The written document that the US gave to Russia had set “out a serious diplomatic path forward should Russia choose it,” US Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in January. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has demanded Russia’s core security issues be addressed first in any negotiations with the United States and NATO before other security issues can be resolved.

In a news conference following a meeting with his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio in Moscow, Lavrov said that, for example, any agreement to limit and halt the deployment of short- and long-range missiles based in Europe or lower military risks associated with military exercises won’t be resolved “until we agree on our key positions.”

“That is NATO’s non-expansion to the East, non-placement of the strike weapons, and respect to the military and political configuration at the time of signing of founding act between Russia and NATO,” Lavrov listed as the core demands.

His comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, reiterated that the US and NATO had not satisfied Russia’s security concerns.

“The responses we received from the United States and NATO members to security guarantees proposals, in our opinion, do not meet the three basic Russian requirements mentioned above,” Putin said. “The provided responses contain a number of proposals that we are not just open to discussing, but in fact we have proposed them to our partners in previous years: proposals on European security issues, on certain weaponry issues, i.e. intermediate and short-range missiles, and on military transparency.”

“We are ready to continue this joint work further. We are also ready to follow the negotiation track but all issues must be considered as a whole, without being separated from the main Russian proposals, the implementation of which is an unconditional priority for us,” Putin said.

Lavrov went a step further on Thursday, saying: “Our priority is not seeing isolated issues plucked from the package of measures and then claim we’ve resolved all issues.”

“We noted in the second part of the American response to our initiative there is willingness to discuss and find agreement on the issues we’ve been proposing our NATO colleagues as urgent for the last several years,” Lavrov said.

“They have been avoiding these issues in many ways. I mean an agreement to limit and halt the deployment of short- and long-range missiles land-based in Europe, refraining from placement of other offensive weapons in areas where they can threaten security, reach concrete agreements when it comes to trust measures, measures to lowering military risks associated with military exercises of both parties, including air force and navy traffic,” he said.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “reiterated the US commitment to continue to pursue a diplomatic solution to the crisis Moscow has precipitated.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US intelligence community is still investigating who was behind a series of denial of service attacks on Ukraine’s government and banks earlier this week, but the move is out of the Russian playbook.

“In terms of confirming whether or not this was Russia behind this, the intelligence community continues to assess what happened there,” Austin said during a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. “But I would just … point out to you, this is a play taken out of [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] playbook.”

Some background: A high-volume cyberattack that temporarily blocked access to the websites of Ukrainian defense agencies and banks on Tuesday was “the largest [such attack] in the history of Ukraine,” according to a government minister.

Cyberattacks like the one on Tuesday are part of a series of moves the US expected to see before a Russian military invasion, including “increasing rhetoric in the information space,” Austin said. He noted the US is “beginning to see more and more of that.”

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US government is not seeing any kind of withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s border. Instead, the US continues to see Russia add to its capabilities and troops “even in the last couple of days,” Austin said during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

Austin said the US is seeing Russia “fly in more combat and support aircraft,” plus “sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea” and even “stocking up their blood supplies.”

He also said the US is seeing some of Russia’s troops “inch closer to that border” with Ukraine in recent days.

“I was a soldier myself not that long ago, and I know firsthand that you don’t do these sort of things for no reason, and you certainly don’t do them if you’re getting ready to pack up and go home, so we and our allies will stay vigilant,” Austin said.

Austin said that while the US is still “gathering the details” about shelling in Ukraine’s Donbas region, there is concern that it may have been done by Russia to create a pretext for an invasion.

“We’ve said for some time that the Russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict,” Austin said. “So we’ll be watching this very closely.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will deliver remarks at the UN Security Council meeting at 10 a.m. ET, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Thursday morning.  

Thomas-Greenfield said that the US is doing “everything we can to prevent a war,” and the meeting this morning at the UN should not distract from what is happening on the ground in Ukraine.  

Blinken will speak to the intense US commitment to diplomacy and de-escalation, Thomas-Greenfield said.  

The meeting is on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which was an effort to bring about peace in eastern Ukraine in 2014. But they never successfully brought about a ceasefire. 

Blinken’s address to the UNSC was a last minute change to his schedule. Thomas-Greenfield said she asked Blinken to make the address because “this is a crucial moment.”

Some background: The Russians and Ukrainians interpret the agreements in different ways, with Russia claiming that the agreements mean that breakaway regions of Ukraine must be given autonomy and elections which would give Russia representation in Ukraine’s government. 

Ukraine has addressed the United Nations Security Council over a Russian State Duma request for President Vladimir Putin to recognize Donetsk and Luhansk as sovereign and independent, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wednesday.  Donetsk and Luhansk are regions of eastern Ukraine that have been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. 

“We have officially addressed the UNSC with an initiative to discuss Russian State Duma’s appeal to recognize the so-called ‘LDNR’, which undermines Minsk agreements and the peace process. We requested UNSC to consider the issue at the February 17th meeting on Minsk agreements,” Kuleba tweeted Wednesday.

US Vice President Kamala Harris departed Washington, DC, for a high-stakes trip to Munich, Germany, where she is set to attend and deliver a keynote speech at the Munich Security Conference and hold meetings with world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The trip comes as US officials say 7,000 new Russian soldiers have arrived near Ukraine, contradicting any Russian claims of a pullback.

She waved before climbing the steps to Air Force Two, but did not answer a shouted question on her message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Officials said she will be discussing a “full range of issues” with foreign leaders, including unity between allies, the economic consequences that have been prepped if Russia were to invade and a diplomatic path to de-escalation.

The senior administration official described the vice president’s key objective in Munich as three-pronged: Focus on the “fast-changing” situation on the ground, maintain full alignment with partners and send a clear message to Russia that the US prefers diplomacy but is ready in case of Russian aggression.

CNN’s Jasmine Wright contributed reporting to this post.

Alleged reports of “abnormal military activity” in the Donbas region are a “blatant attempt” by Russia to “fabricate pretexts for invasion,” said UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. 

These kinds of actions are “straight out of the Kremlin playbook,” Truss tweeted Thursday. 

The United Kingdom is “very concerned,” she said, by reports of “increased Russian aggression” in particular shellfire on a kindergarten in the Donbas region.  

Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine have spoken of renewed shelling in the region. Video and images confirmed by CNN showed a school in Ukrainian-controlled territory hit by a shell Thursday. 

The UK is also concerned by Russia’s deployment of an additional 7,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, Truss wrote. 

The foreign secretary, who is set to give a joint press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in Kyiv at 9 a.m ET, said the UK will “continue to call out Russia’s disinformation campaign.” 

She urged “Russia to withdraw its troops,” stressing “there is still time for diplomacy and de-escalation.” 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday reasserted the Kremlin’s noncommital response to a recent appeal by lawmakers to formally recognize the separatist republics in the Donbas region, stressing that the recent measure was not a formal legislative package. 

Asked by a reporter in a conference call to comment on the appeal, Peskov noted that when French President Emmanuel Macron recently asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about a bill to recognize the separatists, Putin replied that there was no bill. 

Added Peskov: “It [the question] was about a bill and it was explained that there was no bill, but an initiative. There is no bill to that effect.”

Donetsk and Luhansk are regions of eastern Ukraine that have been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

The Kremlin has maintained publicly that the Russian government remains committed to the Minsk agreement to resolve the Ukraine conflict, and international observers say that recognition could potentially scuttle the process. 

NATO allies are concerned that Russia is attempting to “stage a pretext” for an armed attack against Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday, adding that NATO has observed “false flag operations” in Ukraine by Russian intelligence officers.

“We don’t know what will happen, but what we do know is that Russia has amassed the biggest force we have seen for decades in and around Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. 

Speaking during a press briefing at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Stoltenberg noted that the military alliance had observed a continued build-up of Russian military presence on the border with Ukraine, adding that allies have seen “no sign of withdrawal or de-escalation” by Russia. 

“We call on Russia to do what it says and withdraw its forces from the borders of Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.  

“Allies are all ready to sit down with Russia in the NATO-Russia Council to address a wide range of issues and find common ground,” he added. 

The NATO chief also reiterated the alliance’s support for Ukraine, confirming that NATO allies are “helping Ukraine boost its ability to defend itself.” 

“Self-defense is a right enshrined in the UN charter, and allies are helping Ukraine to uphold that right, including with trainers and military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces; cyber and intelligence expertise; and with significant financial support,” Stoltenberg said. 

With talks over a bipartisan sanctions bill stalled, senators — led by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and GOP Sen. Rob Portman — offered a resolution showing support for Ukraine.

It’s non-binding, and they will try to pass it by unanimous consent on Thursday. 

The resolution is for “supporting an independent and democratic Ukraine against any further Russian military invasion,” according to text of the resolution.

It also “commends the courage, resolve, and restraint shown by the Ukrainian people in their pursuit of sovereignty and democracy, and pays tribute to the many men and women who gave their lives in pursuit of a free and democratic Ukraine.”

The text goes on to say that the Senate “reaffirms unwavering United States support for a secure, democratic, and independent Ukraine” and “denounces the Russian military buildup of over 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s border.”

The Senate “encourages the President that, should any further invasion or other malign activity to undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine occur by Russia, the United States Government should exhaust all tools at its disposal to impose significant costs on the Russian Federation to restore peace in Europe,” according to the text.

The resolution is being offered after talks about a bipartisan sanctions bill halted when GOP Sen. Jim Risch, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a Republican-only Russia sanctions bill on Tuesday.

A group of senators are traveling to Germany Thursday for the Munich Security Conference, where several world leaders — including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — and other heads of state and ministers will be in attendance.

CNN’s Ellie Kaufman and Lauren Fox contributed reporting to this post.

India removed all restrictions on the number of flights and seats between India and Ukraine that had been established earlier as Covid-19 countermeasures, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced Thursday, according to state broadcaster Doordarshan News (DD News). 

“Any number of flights as well as charter flights can operate between India and Ukraine,” and Indian airlines have been asked to increase flights due to rising demand, DD News said Thursday.

It comes after the Indian embassy in Kyiv issued an advisory urging its citizens, particularly students, to “consider leaving temporarily.”

All international commercial flights to India had been suspended since March 2020 due to the pandemic, except those operating in a limited capacity under air-bubble arrangements. India, which previously operated a limited number of flights with Ukraine under this arrangement, will now allow flights to operate unrestricted.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it had established a control room specifically for queries from citizens about Ukraine “in view of the prevailing situation” and said the Indian embassy in Kyiv has also set up a 24-hour helpline, according to a statement.

While no evacuations are being carried out presently, the Indian embassy in Kyiv continues to function normally and the MEA will “continue to monitor the situation on the ground and take further steps as the situation evolves,” Arindam Bagchi, the MEA spokesperson said Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he had spoken with European Council President Charles Michel about the shelling in Donbas. 

Both Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine spoke of renewed shelling in the region early Thursday. Video and images confirmed by CNN show that a pre-school in Ukrainian-controlled territory was hit by a shell Thursday.

Zelensky said he had informed Michel of “the security situation and today’s provocative shelling, in particular in Stanytsia Luhanska.”

He also said he thanked him “for the initiative of the donors’ conference in support of Ukraine.”

Both Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine spoke of renewed shelling in the region early Thursday.

Video and images confirmed by CNN show that a pre-school in Ukrainian-controlled territory was hit by a shell Thursday.

The Ukrainian armed forces said that “Russian occupation troops shelled the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska.”

In a statement on Twitter, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said the village of Stanytsia Luhanska “was shelled with heavy weapons from the occupied territory of the Donbas. Civilian infrastructure damaged. We call on all partners to swiftly condemn this severe violation of Minsk agreements by Russia amid an already tense security situation.”  

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said the reports of shellfire were a matter of “very, very deep concern” but added that there were no plans to discuss the matter with the Ukrainian government.

“We have repeatedly warned that the excessive concentration of the armed forces of Ukraine in the vicinity of the lines of contact, combined with possible provocations, could pose a terrible threat,” Peskov said.

“We now see that these provocations are underway, we see reports from representatives of the [separatists] republics that there is an exchange of blows on the lines of contact, and that the first blow came from Ukraine, this is alarming. We hope that our opponents from Western capitals, the United States, and NATO countries will use all their influence to warn the Kyiv authorities about further escalation,” he added.

CNN has established that the school is less than five kilometers (about three miles) from what is known as the Line of Contact, which separates the two sides. CNN has not established who initiated the exchange of fire.  

Pro-Russian separatists said different residential areas had come under fire from the Ukrainian military, near Donetsk and Luhansk.

CNN contacted a resident of Mariinka near Donetsk who had posted a video that included the sound of heavy explosions early Thursday.

She told CNN that the worst period was between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. local time. She said people were staying indoors.

Violations of the ceasefire agreement in the region occur regularly, sometimes involving the use of heavy weaponry. 

Correction: An earlier version of this post included the wrong distance of the school from the frontlines. The school is less than five kilometers from the Line of Contact.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has given assurances that Moscow wants to find a diplomatic solution to the tensions with Ukraine, his Italian counterpart said Thursday.  

Speaking during a joint press conference in Moscow, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio stressed Russia is “fully willing to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis,” and added that dialogue  is “essential.” 

Di Maio welcomed Lavrov’s announcement that Moscow will send a response to the US on Thursday regarding security guarantees, calling it a “very good sign.” 

He also announced that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon. The two foreign ministers are working to arrange a date for this meeting, Di Maio added. 

“I want to reiterate that Italy strongly supports the territorial integrity and full sovereignty of Ukraine, including its international political choices,” Di Maio emphasized. 

Don’t Trust – Do Verify: That’s the unofficial mantra from Western officials in response to Russia’s declarations that some of their units that have been encircling Ukraine are now returning to base.

Russia appears keen to prove those declarations to the world through well-produced videos distributed by the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In several of those videos, units from the Southern and Western Military Districts were said to be going back to base from Crimea after completing their exercises there. Traffic heading east across the bridge over the Kerch Strait included tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and fuel trucks, which supported the units.

Filmed from multiple angles, the videos were designed to reinforce what the Kremlin has insisted all along: that an invasion of Ukraine is not and never has been on its agenda.

“Southern Military District troops, which have completed their tasks as part of planned tactical exercises at combined arms ranges on the Crimean peninsula, have begun to return to their permanent deployment points,” the ministry said Tuesday.

But two of the units leaving, according to Russian newpaper Izvestia, were elements of the 3rd and 150th Motor Rifle Divisions. They are based close to Ukraine at Rostov-on-Don and Belgorod respectively, a short drive from the border. When those units get home, they will be closer to Ukraine than they were in Crimea.

Other Russian footage from Tuesday – including drone shots – showed the elaborate departure of T72 tanks from an unidentified rural area.

CNN geolocated the location to a training ground near Otreshkovo, a Russian village some 120 kilometers (around 75 miles) from the border. But the direction the departing tank convoy was taking is far from conclusive.

The video shows tanks heading in two different directions, both to a railway station and to the training ground.

Read the full story:

Satellite images taken over the past two days show new road construction and a tactical bridge being built across a key river in Belarus less than four miles from the Ukrainian border, amid what sources say is an ongoing buildup of Russian military forces encircling three sides of Ukraine. Western intelligence and military officials are closely tracking the construction as part of the support infrastructure Russia is putting in place in advance of a potential invasion, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Both the new road construction and the bridge, across the Pripyat River in southern Belarus, are less than 4 miles from the border and could be used by Russian forces currently in Belarus in a drive to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The satellite images, from Maxar and Planet, show the appearance of the pontoon bridge virtually overnight on Tuesday.

Related article Russia says its units are going home after exercises near Ukraine. Evidence suggests otherwise

NATO has “not seen any sign of withdrawal or de-escalation” by Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday, calling the present situation a “new normal” as he countered claims from Moscow it was pulling back.

Speaking in Brussels in advance of meetings with NATO defense ministers and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the NATO chief remarked that “as we are meeting today, peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area is under threat.”

On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that units of the Southern and Western military districts, which completed combat training tasks as part of military exercises, “have already begun loading into railroad transport and began moving to their military garrisons.”

Stoltenberg said Thursday that Russia continues to demonstrate “its disregard for the principles underpinning European security,” describing the present situation as a “new normal which we need to be prepared for.” 

Heated tensions between Russia and the West on Ukraine – and the battle to win global public opinion – boiled over on Chinese social media this week after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s verified Weibo account urged Russia to “avoid decisions that would be disastrously wrong for the country.”

Responding to Johnson’s post, the verified account of the Russian Embassy in Beijing – also writing in Mandarin – on Wednesday called the comments “absurd” and another example of “the West’s information war,” calling the statement “designed to further stoke the hysteria it has manipulated over an alleged ‘imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.’”

The embassy said Russia hasn’t carried out any major military activities and that its troops were stationed on its territory and “posed no threat to anyone,” it said in another post. 

“If the West is truly committed to reducing the military danger, it should be concerned about the actions of Ukraine and its patrons, because they are the ones who have created it. The continued military development by NATO countries on Ukrainian territory by supplying Ukraine with large quantities of weapons is an example of the escalation of the situation,” the Russian embassy added in the post. 

Since Tuesday, the spat sparked strong interest on Chinese social media, propelling the hashtag “British Prime Minister” to become a trending topic on Weibo. 

China has publicly backed Russia’s demand that NATO halts further expansion eastward following a summit in Beijing between the two country’s leaders ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday units of the Southern and Western military districts, which completed combat training tasks as part of exercises, “have already begun loading into railroad transport and began moving to their military garrisons,” adding “separate units will march on their own in military columns.”

These are the latest of several announcements from the Russian Ministry of Defense on units returning to their bases at the end of military drills. The announcement comes as Western officials allege that Russia is continuing its military build-up around the Ukrainian border.  

Thursday’s statement added that a military train with personnel and military equipment of tank army units of the Western Military District (ZVO) “began moving to the point of permanent deployment following the completion of planned exercises at the training site.”

The ministry said the relocation of tanks and armored vehicles is conducted by rail over a distance of about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), without providing any details about the location of the train nor its destination.

In a separate statement published earlier Thursday, the ministry said units of the brigade of logistical support of the Western military district arrived at the point of permanent deployment, after the completion of planned exercises. It did not provide specific locations for the movement or the duration of the exercise.

“Units of the Western Military District’s logistics brigade completed a 900-kilometer march from the planned exercise site and arrived at the permanent location,” the ministry said. The convoy consisted of “more than 40 heavy trucks with personnel, specialized equipment and military equipment.”

CNN has been unable to confirm if the latest Russian Ministry of Defense statements accurately reflect the situation on the ground. 

Some context: Western officials have expressed skepticism about Russian announcements that some of the troops assembled close to the border with Ukraine are returning to their bases.

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies on Wednesday showed that in several regions near Ukraine, Russian forces are consolidating and adding to their positions. Several units that had been gathered in camps in southern Belarus have been dispersed.

Russian forces massed along Ukraine’s borders have increased by about 7,000 troops in recent days, the United States alleged Wednesday.

A bipartisan resolution condemning Russia’s aggression and actions towards Ukraine could get a vote on the Senate floor as soon as Thursday, according to Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of both the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“You could see there being a consensus,” Kaine said.

The resolution is being offered after talks about a bipartisan sanctions bill halted when Republican Sen. Jim Risch, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a Republican-only Russia sanctions bill on Tuesday.

Now there is an effort among bipartisan senators to come to an agreement on some language condemning Russia’s actions against Ukraine to show broad support among Democrats and Republicans for Ukraine while tensions remain extremely high between the two countries. The main proposal being floated is a joint resolution led by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Sen. Rob Portman, but Risch said several proposals are being floated. 

Risch said there was a “legitimate disagreement” on the extent of sanctions proposed by Democrats and Republicans. 

“I suspect and I predict that if there’s an invasion,” of Russia into Ukraine, “my bill is going to become very, very popular,” Risch said, referring to the Russian sanctions bill he introduced on Tuesday.

More context: A group of senators are traveling to Germany on Thursday for the Munich Security Conference, where several world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other heads of state and ministers, will be in attendance.

Kaine believes senators traveling to the conference want to show some kind of support for Ukraine before heading overseas, which is why it’s possible the resolution could come tomorrow.

“We’ve got a bunch of colleagues going to Munich, and I suspect that they would like to have something,” Kaine said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow will send its response to the US on security guarantees on Thursday, following a meeting with his counterpart Luigi Di Maio in Moscow.

Lavrov said Moscow will also make the letter public.

“Now we are finalizing our analysis on the American letter, and we hope in the nearest future you will find out how the situation unfolds. At the very least, we will send our reply back to the US today,” Lavrov said.

This comes weeks after the US gave Moscow its written response aimed at deterring a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The written document was intended to address concerns Moscow has publicly released and to outline areas where the US has said it sees potential for progress with Russia – arms control, transparency and stability, the top US diplomat told reporters at the State Department at the end of January.

This post has been updated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a man who likes to keep his options open, and the Ukraine crisis is no exception: As the Kremlin leader signals his willingness to engage on the diplomatic front, he is also bolstering a case for war.

Take the situation in Donbas, the territories in eastern Ukraine partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists. In a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, Putin dropped the “g” word to describe the situation there.

“According to our estimates, what is happening in the Donbas today is genocide,” Putin said.

Scholz pushed back, later telling reporters that Putin was “wrong” to use the term. But those comments were already out in the public realm – and Putin had stepped up the rhetoric.

Putin’s grievance in the Donbas isn’t new. He has spoken repeatedly about what he describes as the violation of the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine, and has stated that it is within Russia’s rights to intervene militarily to protect them.

But Putin appears to be making a case for his own version of a “responsibility to protect,” however distant the situation in Donbas may be from a Rwanda – where over 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, were killed over the course of 100 days in 1994 – or Srebrenica – where more than 7,000 mostly Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in 1995.

Invoking genocide echoes Russia’s false claim that its neighbor, Georgia, committed genocide against civilians in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August 2008. During that brief conflict, Russia launched a massive military incursion that pushed deep into Georgian territory, a scenario that worries Western policymakers today when it comes to Ukraine.

The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top law enforcement body, took Putin’s comments a step further on Wednesday when it announced it had opened a criminal investigation into alleged evidence of what it called “indiscriminate shelling” of civilians in the Donbas region by Ukrainian forces since 2014.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz following their talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. Putin said Moscow is ready for security talks with the U.S. and NATO, as the Russian military announced a partial troop withdrawal from drills near Ukraine — new signs that may suggest a Russian invasion of its neighbor isn't imminent despite snowballing Western fears. (Sergey Guneev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Related article Is Putin creating a pretext for war?

The number of Russian troops massed along Ukraine’s borders has increased by approximately 7,000 in recent days, the United States alleged Wednesday evening, despite claims from Moscow it was pulling back.

The US claim came as a senior Biden administration official said the increase proved that Russia’s assertion of withdrawal was “false,” and suggests that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s apparent warming to the notion of diplomacy is merely a guise.

“Every indication we have now is they mean only to publicly offer to talk, and make claims about de-escalation, while privately mobilizing for war,” the official said.

Wednesday’s new numbers would mean the totality of Russian forces at the border now exceeds the 150,000 figure President Joe Biden shared on Tuesday.

In a speech from the East Room, Biden allowed that a Russian troop withdrawal would be “good,” but quickly noted he’d seen no evidence to suggest such a pullback was indeed underway.

“Our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position,” Biden said. “And the fact remains right now Russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine and Belarus and along Ukraine’s border.”

Earlier in the week, Putin claimed that Russia was sending some troops back to base after the completion of training drills in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.

Leaders from Europe and the US, however, expressed doubt about the claim.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the alliance had not yet seen “any sign of de-escalation on the ground,” adding that “signs from Moscow” that diplomacy should continue were grounds for cautious optimism.

US Secretary Antony Blinken concurred, saying that there is “a difference between what Russia says and what it does.”

“What we’re seeing is no meaningful pullback,” Blinken added.

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In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms after the end of military drills in South Russia. In what could be another sign that the Kremlin would like to lower the temperature, Russia's Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that some units participating in military exercises would begin returning to their bases. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Related article US says Russia has added 7,000 troops along Ukraine border, despite claims of pullback