Russia's strategic nuclear force held drills overseen by President Vladimir
Putin on Saturday, and Washington accused Russian troops gathering near the
Ukrainian border of advancing and "ready to strike".
With Western fears of war growing, foreign ministers from the rich G7 group
of nations said they saw no evidence that Russia was reducing its military
activity in the area and remained "deeply concerned" about the situation.
After Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of new shootings near the border,
France and Germany urged all or some of their citizens in Ukraine to leave.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian troops were beginning to
"unravel and move closer" to the border. "We expect him (Putin) to step back
from the brink of conflict," Austin told a news conference in Lithuania,
saying an invasion of Ukraine was inevitable.
Russia ordered a military upgrade while demanding NATO prevent Ukraine from
joining the alliance but said Western warnings that it planned to attack
Ukraine were hysterical and dangerous.
Moscow has said it will back down, but Washington and its allies say the
increase is increasing. Washington and NATO say Moscow's main demands are
not a start, but in Ukraine fear is growing over Putin's plans.
Venting his frustration at a security conference in Munich, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the global security architecture was
"almost broken". He urged the permanent members of the UN Security Council,
Germany and Turkey to meet to draft new security guarantees for their
countries.
"The rules the world agreed on decades ago no longer work," Zelenskiy said.
"They don't keep up with new threats... It's cough syrup when you need a
coronavirus vaccine."
World Bank President David Malpass told Zelenskiy on Saturday that the bank
was setting up funds for Ukraine of up to US$350 million.