British troops should be visibly deployed near Russian border, Ukraine says

Some 200 Canadian soldiers are already deployed in Ukraine as part of a training mission which the defense minister says should be expanded.

Ukraine previously estimated that Russia amassed around 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. Mr Reznikov said that number could soon reach 175,000.

Western intelligence and open source data showed a large amount of weapons and ammunition moving across Russia, and a large amount of equipment already stationed near Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the eastern front line on Monday where he presented medals to the troops.

“I am convinced that with people like you we will win,” he said.

Russia’s “red lines”

German magazine Bild reported unverified intelligence data this weekend, claiming that Russia was seeking to seize two-thirds of Ukrainian territory.

President Putin said last week that the idea of ​​Ukraine’s NATO membership was a “red line” for Moscow, and he wanted rock-solid guarantees that Kiev would never be allowed to join. ‘alliance.

Moscow regards NATO troops and weapons on Ukrainian soil as an unacceptable threat to its security, Putin said.

The Russian leader will hold a virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday in a bid to ease tensions.

This is the second meeting of the two presidents since June, when Mr Putin and Mr Biden met for talks in Geneva and agreed to launch negotiations on arms control and cybersecurity.

Bilateral closed-door talks have reportedly started, but with no visible progress at this time.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was prepared to offer its own security guarantees to the West in return for a firm “legal deal” that Kiev will be kept away from it. transatlantic alliance.

“Obviously, security guarantees cannot be unilateral,” he said.

NATO and Ukraine have insisted that Moscow has no right to tell other nations how to organize their defense strategies.

Relations between Moscow and Kiev have been in crisis since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and supported separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. This move left large swathes of Ukraine’s industrial heartland under the control of Russian proxy forces.

Deadly fighting in the region largely ceased after a peace deal in 2015, but Denis Pushilin, head of a self-proclaimed republic, warned on Monday of a return to “large-scale hostilities.”

Mr Pushilin, along with Leonid Pasechnik, another separatist leader, were in Moscow this weekend where they were appointed members of President Putin’s ruling United Russia party at an annual convention.