Russia claims on evacuating Ukraine border; NATO declines on any movement

Russia has released a statement on Wednesday, which highlights that the Military drills in Moscow-annexed Crimea have ended, and the troops deployed there were returning back to their garrisons, a day after it announced a first troop pullback from Ukraine's borders. Moscow's defence ministry added, "Units of Southern Military, District, having completed their participation in tactical exercises, are moving to their permanent deployment points."

Whereas, numerous reports are claiming several images showing that military units were seen crossing a bridge linking the Russia-controlled peninsula to the mainland.

The statement added that tanks, infantry vehicles, and artillery were evacuating Crimea by rail. The statement comes a day after Moscow said that it was pulling back some of its troops that have been deployed on its neighbour's border.

But Western regions are still on alert that Russia could still launch an attack on Ukraine, with US President Joe Biden alarming on Tuesday that an attack remained "very much a possibility."

Meanwhile, a bunch of cyber attacks hits on Tuesday by knocking the websites of the Ukrainian army, the defence ministry and several major banks. Over ten websites of Ukrainian officials were unable to reach due to the attacks, including the defense, foreign and cultural ministries and Ukraine's two largest state banks.

At the same time, one of European diplomat said that cyberattacks are a long-standing component of Russian strategy and used by a previous military face-off with Georgia and Ukraine. "It is a part of their playbook," the official added.

Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has said that "At the moment, we have not seen any withdrawal of Russian army."

As Russia is claiming that more of its forces surrounding Ukraine were evacuating, but NATO said that the troop build-up was continuing.

Russia said more of its forces surrounding Ukraine were withdrawing on Wednesday, but NATO said the troop build-up was continuing, questioning Moscow's stated willingness to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

As per the reports, one of a senior Western intelligence official said Russian military exercises were already skyrocketing, and the continuous threat against Ukraine would remain high till February end.

The official, on condition of anonymity, said that "There are no clear signs at this point that there will be any kind of military de-escalation. Russia could still attack Ukraine."