NATO says 'Russia invades other nations', warns monitoring troop buildup on Ukraine border

NATO has been closely monitoring the “unusual concentration of Russian forces” on the border with Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday at the German Atlantic Association 'NATO Talk' Conference in Berlin. Raising the concerns about Russia’s significant military buildup at the Ukrainian border that has escalated regional tensions, Stoltenberg said: “We are now closely monitoring the developments along the borders. This matters for NATO and we have the capacity, we have the capabilities to collect information, to monitor it closely, and to understand what is going on there.”

Recent satellite imagery reveals increased military activity from Russia's 144th Guards Motorized Rifle Division and the 41st Combined Arms Army as Moscow continues aggressive military build-up after NATO, and US joint military exercises in the Black sea. 

Russian military build up on contentious Moscow-Kyiv border. Credit: Maxar 

NATO chief sounded an alarm about the troop concentration as he feared that there was now a threat of a looming armed conflict, as he compared the situation with the instances of Russian military invasions in the past. Russian President Vladimir Putin had ‘stealthily’ provided the military support to separatists in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region in 2008 that had sparked accusations from its Western allies.

Moscow also de facto controlled South Ossetia for several years drafting operating procedures for Georgian rebel factions’ armed forces which the Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze had condemned as ‘illegitimate’ behaviour, one that exacerbated conflict and hampered peace. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after the military concentration on the Ukrainian border.

Russia's military base outside Ukrainian border town of Torez. Credit: Twitter/@GlasnostGone

“We know that they [Russians] have used these types of forces before to actually intervene and invade other countries, Georgia and Ukraine,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. He then added that the NATO alliance has “made clear to Russia that we see their significant military buildup.”

Warning about Russia’s “aggressive actions” and its interference in other countries' affairs, NATO chief Stoltenberg said that Moscow has massively invested in its military capabilities, including new, advanced nuclear weapons in order to use military force against its neighbours.

“The best way to tackle them is to stay united. Europe and North America together in NATO,” he said. “That is why reinforcing the transatlantic unity and strengthening NATO is so important right now.” 

Russian troops concentrated at Ukrainian border once again. Credit: twitter/@jskinners01

Ukrainian Prez Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia wants 'all-out war' with Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned that Russia hasn't given up on the option of an all-out war on Ukraine to achieve its geopolitical goals. Speaking at the Yalta security forum in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky said that an armed conflict between the two countries was a "palpable possibility" although, stressing that an "all-out war" would be the biggest mistake on Russia's part. 

Tensions between Moscow and Kyiv have so dangerously escalated that the two nations may not be in a position to deter a possibility of a military confrontation, said the Ukrainian leader, adding that a "precipice" was already emerging between the two neighbouring countries. Putin is of the view that "Ukraine is not a fully sovereign state," Zelensky told reporters, adding that "respect for national sovereignty" worked in a reciprocal manner.