Russia Ukraine crisis live: The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday announced the end of Crimean military exercises, AFP news agency reported. The Russian Defense Ministry shared a video of Russian military equipment and forces leaving Crimea. The move came after Moscow said on Tuesday that some of its troops were returning to their home bases, indicating a cooling of tensions over the Ukraine issue.
Earlier on Wednesday, the United States warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was a distinct possibility. US President Joe Biden said in a televised address that reports of troop withdrawals were unverified and revised the number of Russian troops besieging Ukraine from 100,000 to 150,000.
Meanwhile, a series of cyber attacks on Tuesday took the websites of Ukraine's military, defense ministry and major banks offline. At least 10 Ukrainian websites were inaccessible due to the attacks, including the ministries of defence, foreign and culture, and Ukraine's two largest state-run banks. A European diplomat told Reuters that cyberattacks were an old component of Russian strategy, and had been used by Moscow in previous military confrontations with Georgia and Ukraine. "It's part of their playbook," the official said.
Russia said on Wednesday that military exercises in Crimea linked to Moscow had ended and troops were returning to their garrisons, a day after announcing the first troop withdrawal from Ukraine's borders.
On Tuesday, some of its military units were returning to their bases after exercises near Ukraine and repeatedly mocked Western warnings about an imminent offensive, but NATO said it had yet to see any sign of de-escalation on the ground. Is not found.
Russia did not say how many units were being withdrawn after building up about 130,000 Russian troops in the north, east and south of Ukraine, and how far, which has caused one of the worst crises in relations with the West since the cold. gave birth to one. Warning.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "We have always said that the troops will return to their positions after the exercise is over. This is the case this time as well."
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to withdraw from the war with Ukraine, speaking about the "unnecessary death and destruction" Moscow could cause and international outrage. .
In a nationally televised speech, Biden said that the United States estimates that 150,000 Russian troops now surround Ukraine, which is higher than previous estimates of around 100,000. He said reports of some forces being called back are welcome, but they are unverified and the possibility of an attack remains.
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