The United States claims that Russian troops have increased by 7,000 soldiers in recent days

Latest news on the Ukraine crisis with Russia

MADRID, Feb. 17 (Royals Blue) –

The United States stated on Wednesday that Russian troops would have increased by 7,000 soldiers in recent days, despite information from Moscow of a partial withdrawal of the forces deployed on the border with Ukraine.

“All the indications we have now are just to speak publicly and make claims about de-escalation, while privately mobilizing for war,” a senior US official has said, thus denying Moscow’s announced Russian withdrawal from the border. Ukrainian, according to the CNN network.

The new estimates would put Russia’s force numbers close to the number US President Joe Biden cited in a televised address earlier this week.

“We have not yet verified that the Russian military units are returning to their home bases, in fact our analysts indicate that they are still in a very threatening position, and the fact is that at the moment Russia has more than 150,000 soldiers surrounding Ukraine and Belarus, (…) and the invasion is still clearly possible,” the president moved then.

Regarding the search for a false pretext for the invasion of Ukraine, the senior US official stressed that they expect “more false reports from the Russian state media in the coming days”, adding that “it is not yet known” the way or the contents.

AIRPLANES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

On the other hand, the Pentagon has warned this Wednesday that three US Navy surveillance planes had “close encounters” with multiple Russian planes over the Mediterranean last weekend.

The three US planes were flying over the Mediterranean Sea in international airspace when a Russian plane made “unprofessional interceptions”, said Captain Mike Kafka, a Pentagon spokesman, adding that they have made Moscow aware “through contacts diplomats”.

“While no one was injured, interactions such as these could lead to miscalculations and errors that lead to more dangerous outcomes. The United States will continue to operate safely, professionally, and consistent with international law in international waters and airspace. We hope that Russia does the same,” he said, according to the NBC network.

However, US officials have not specified precisely how far apart the two planes were, as reported by CNN.