Putin launches nuclear drills as U.S. says Russia poised to invade Ukraine

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces on Saturday and Washington said Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s border were “poised to strike”.

As Western nations fear the start of one the worst conflicts since the Cold War, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian forces were beginning to “uncoil and move closer” to the border with its former Soviet neighbor.

“We hope he steps back from the brink of conflict,” he told a news conference on a visit to Lithuania, saying an invasion of Ukraine was not inevitable.

Russia ordered the military build-up while demanding NATO stop Ukraine from ever joining the alliance but says predictions it is planning to invade Ukraine are wrong and dangerous. It says it is now pulling back while Washington and allies insist the build-up is mounting.

Moscow said on Saturday a Ukrainian shell had exploded inside Russia and Russian news agencies later cited an unnamed source reporting a second. read more

Multiple explosions could be heard on Saturday morning in the north of the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, as more people got on buses to leave. The origin was not immediately clear. Ukraine said earlier that one of its soldiers had been killed.

“It’s really scary. I’ve taken everything I could carry,” said Tatyana, 30, who was boarding a bus with her 4-year-old daughter.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who has given regular warnings of an impending invasion, said on Friday he now believes the capital Kyiv would be targeted by Russia but that he does not think Putin is even remotely contemplating using nuclear weapons.

Biden said Putin would invade in the coming days. “As of this moment, I am convinced that he has made the decision,” he told reporters.

AGENCIES