MOSCOW (Reuters) – New satellite images show renewed Russian military activity on Sunday and Monday in several areas near Ukraine, according to the private U.S. company that released them, as Western nations fear an imminent invasion by this country by its Russian neighbour.
US firm Maxar Technologies, which has been monitoring Russian military deployments on the Ukrainian border for several weeks, said Tuesday that satellite images from Sunday and Monday reflect a significant uptick in activity in Belarus, on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as in western Russia.
Russia, which denies any plan to invade Ukraine, has for several months massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the border between the two countries and is currently organizing military maneuvers in Belarus, in northern Ukraine. .
Quoted by news agencies, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that some of the troops deployed in regions bordering Ukraine were returning to their bases after completing military exercises.
Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of Maxar’s images.
According to Maxar, these images show the deployment of new troops and the arrival of helicopter gunships, ground attack aircraft and additional fighter-bombers to outposts.
They would also have captured the departure of many units of ground forces from their garrisons, as well as a convoy of other combat units.
(Report Tom Balmforth, French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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