Russia Ukraine Conflict Highlights: How Russia uses sarcasm as weapon in Ukraine crisis

Russia is continuing to move troops to the Ukrainian border and will likely launch a "limited" military attack against the country, the head of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service said on Wednesday. The attack would include missile bombardment and the occupation of "key terrain" in Ukraine, said Mikk Marran, director general of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service.

"Right now, our assessment is that they would avoid cities with large populations, as it takes a lot of troops to control those areas. But there is no clear understanding of what avenue the Russian troops might exploit," he told a media briefing held to introduce the service's annual report. Another possibility could be intensified fighting out of the two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, according to Estonian intelligence. Such escalation is "highly likely," and this way “Russia likely gets plausible deniability and avoids sanctions,” said Marran.

“If Russia is successful in Ukraine, it would encourage it to increase pressure on the Baltics in the coming years," he said. “The threat of war has become main policy tool for Putin.” Estonian intelligence is aware of approximately 10 battle groups of Russian troops moving toward the Ukrainian border, where 100 Russian military battle groups, or about 170,000 soldiers, are already deployed, the intelligence chief said.

The numbers include soldiers usually deployed in regions around Ukraine, but also troops in Belarus which Russia sent for a military exercise near Ukrainian border. Some of the soldiers are likely to stay in Belarus beyond the Feb. 20 end of the exercise, a significant worry for the NATO alliance which the Baltics belong to, said Marran. "That would reduce preparation time for an attack against the Baltics.”

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How Russia uses sarcasm as weapon in Ukraine crisis

“Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.”

That’s how a top Russian diplomat brushed off speculation in the West that Russia could invade neighboring Ukraine as soon as Wednesday, Feb. 16.

As the U.S. and other NATO members warn of the potential for a devastating war, Russia is not countering with bombs or olive branches -- but with sarcasm.

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US stocks lower amid Ukraine uncertainty

Wall Street stocks retreated early Wednesday, giving back some of the prior session's gains amid skepticism over Russia's latest statements on Ukraine, while investors digested strong US retail sales data.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg indicated that major questions persist about Russia's announcement Tuesday that it was pulling troops back from the Ukrainian border.

"It remains to be seen whether there is a Russian withdrawal," Stoltenberg said.

Meanwhile, US retail sales rose 3.8 percent last month, the Commerce Department said, double what was expected and a dramatic reversal of the 2.5 percent decline in December, which was worse than originally reported.

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Europe needs to defend its sovereignty in space, says Emmanuel Macron

Europe needs a bolder space policy, French President Emmanuel Macron declared Wednesday, warning that Europe's sovereignty is at stake if it falls behind rival powers in a key field for technology, science and military competitiveness.

Speaking at a meeting in Toulouse, France, Macron said recent events had shown how crucial it is to be able to monitor troop movements from orbit — a reference to satellite images showing Russia's mass military deployment near Ukraine that raise fears of an imminent invasion.

“There is no full power or autonomy without managing space,” Macron said. "Without (it) you can’t conquer new frontiers or even control your own.”

Europe has a strong record when it comes to launching satellites for telecommunications, global positioning services and scientific research. But it has lagged behind rivals such as the United States, Russia and China on human spaceflight, having no ability to launch crewed missions of its own.

SOURCE: AP

Ukraine stages drills as NATO and US see no Russia pullback

Ukraine staged military drills and defiant displays of flag-waving patriotism on Wednesday as Western powers warned Russia is continuing to mass forces for a possible invasion.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky watched troops training with some of their new Western-supplied anti-tank weapons on a range near Rivne, west of the capital.

The demonstration of Ukrainian firepower contrasted with images on Russian state media that were said to show Moscow's forces bringing an end to a major exercise in occupied Crimea.

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The Kremlin, officials and Russian public figures on Wednesday made fun of Western media for running with February 16 as the "invasion date" when Russia might attack Ukraine."I'd like to ask if US and British sources of disinformation ... could publish the schedule of our upcoming invasions for the year. I'd like to plan my holidays," Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on social media.Western intelligence had warned that Moscow could choose Wednesday to escalate an ongoing separatist conflict in Ukraine, after building up a force estimated at more than 100,000 troops around Ukraine's borders.They said however that the date could be part of a Russian disinformation efforts.Some media, citing intelligence reports, specified Russian attacks could begin early Wednesday morning.

USSecretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said the United States has not seen any pullback of Russian troops from Ukraine's borders and that Moscow has been moving critical units closer to the area. Russia said more of its forces surrounding Ukraine were withdrawing on Wednesday but NATO said the troop buildup was continuing, questioning Moscow's stated willingness to negotiate a solution to the crisis. Blinken backed NATO's assessment in a morning television interview. "There's what Russia says and then there's what Russia does. And we haven't seen any pullback of its forces," Blinken told MSNBC. "We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border." "So what we need to see is exactly the opposite. We need to see these forces moving away." U.S. President Joe Biden made an impassioned appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to step back from war with Ukraine on Tuesday, speaking starkly of the "needless death and destruction" Moscow could cause and international outrage Putin would face. Biden said the United States estimates that 150,000 Russian troops now encircle Ukraine, a higher number than previous estimates of about 100,000. He said reports that some forces had withdrawn were welcome, but they were unverified and an invasion remained very much a possibility.

European Union leaders will meet to discuss the buildup of troops by Russia on the Ukrainian border on Thursday at 1130 GMT, EU officials said, not in reaction to any particular developments but to exchange views and update each other.The ad-hoc meeting will be held just before the start of a long-planned EU-Africa summit. There will be no formal conclusions. "The leaders are meeting in Brussels for the Africa summit and they wanted to meet and discuss the crisis on the Ukrainian border, get updated, exchange information and views," one of the EU officials said. NATO accused Russia on Wednesday of sending more troops to a massive military build-up around Ukraine, even as Moscow said that it was withdrawing forces and was open to diplomacy. Separately, a senior Western intelligence official warned that Russian military exercises were at their peak stage and the risk of Russian aggression against Ukraine would remain high for the rest of February. "The meeting is not because of any particular development, but it would have been hard to imagine that EU leaders would be for two days in Brussels and not discuss the issue that has been in the global spotlight for weeks," the official said.

Dozens of US paratroopers landed at a Polish airport near the Ukrainian border on Wednesday as part of a deployment of several thousand to bolster NATO's eastern flank amid tensions with Russia.AFP reporters saw the soldiers leaving a Boeing C-17 military transport plane and boarding buses at Rzeszow Airport, located around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border with Ukraine.Another group of soldiers, around a dozen, boarded two Black Hawk helicopters which then took off. Two Chinook helicopters were also seen landing.Armoured cars, military trucks, containers and dozens more soldiers were seen at a makeshift camp set up in and around a glass-covered conference centre opposite the airport terminal."We don't know yet," a sergeant manning a checkpoint into the camp, who declined to be named, told AFP when asked how long they might stay.

Russia said more of its forces surrounding Ukraine were withdrawing on Wednesday but NATO said the troop buildup was continuing, questioning Moscow's stated willingness to negotiate a solution to the crisis.In Ukraine, where people raised flags and played the national anthem to show unity against fears of an invasion, the government said a cyber attack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind that the country had seen. It pointed the finger towards Russia, which denied involvement. The Russian defence ministry said its forces were pulling back after exercises in the southern and western military districts near Ukraine - part of a huge Russian build-up that was accompanied by demands for sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO. It published video that it said showed tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery units leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. But a senior Western intelligence official said Russian military exercises were at their peak and the risk of Russian aggression against Ukraine would remain high for the rest of February.

The United States on Wednesday strongly condemned a Russian parliament proposal to recognize Ukraine's two separatist republics as independent.Such a move would "constitute a gross violation of international law," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.Russian parliament on Tuesday voted to urge President Vladimir Putin to recognize the two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as "sovereign and independent states" amid soaring tension with the West over Moscow's troop build-up."Kremlin approval of this appeal would amount to the Russian government’s wholesale rejection of its commitments under the Minsk agreements," Blinken said, referring to a landmark 2014 deal meant to settle the Ukraine conflict.He added that such a decision would undermine Moscow's "stated commitment to continue to engage in diplomacy to achieve a peaceful resolution of this crisis, and necessitate a swift and firm response from the United States in full coordination with our allies and partners."

Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven most developed nations will hold talks on the Ukraine crisis on Saturday in Munich, a spokesman for the German foreign ministry said Wednesday.German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will host the talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, said the spokesman, adding they will "focus on the crisis that has arisen due to the Russian troop deployment near Ukraine".Smaller huddles on the issue are also expected between France, Germany and Ukraine, as well as France, Germany, Britain and the United States.Such talks, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visits to Kyiv and Moscow this week, are "closely coordinated and part of a whole offensive of dialogues that Western allies have carried out in the last weeks" to defuse the tensions over Russia's troop buildup.Both Scholz and Baerbock are expected to address the Munich Security Conference, which US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also due to attend.