NATO chief says Russia appears to be increasing troops at the Ukraine border, day after Kremlin claims the opposite

Military drills in South Russia.

Russian Defense Ministry Press Service

• NATO's secretary general said Russia seemed to be beefing up its troop presence on Ukraine's border.
• Jens Stoltenberg's comments came the day after Russia said it was withdrawing troops.
• Western leaders have been skeptical about Russia's claim.

NATO's secretary general said Russia appeared to be increasing its troop presence along Ukraine's border, one day after Russia said it was doing the opposite.

Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday: "So far we have not seen any deescalation on the ground. On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues their military buildup."

Russia said on Tuesday that it was pulling back some troops from Ukraine's border following military exercises. It did not say how many troops it was withdrawing.

Western countries have been skeptical of the claim, with President Joe Biden saying the US had not been able to verify it.

"The fact remains right now, Russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine," he said. "An invasion remains distinctly possible."

Ukraine also said it doubted Russia had started pulling back troops.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: "We in Ukraine have a rule: we don't believe what we hear, we believe what we see."

"If a real withdrawal follows these statements, we will believe in the beginning of a real de-escalation."

The US and UK warned on Monday that an invasion by Russia could happen in days.

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