Russia has made an announcement on Wednesday, which stated that, “Military drills in Moscow-annexed Crimea had ended and that were soldiers were returning back to their garrisons, a day after it announced a first troop pullback from Ukraine’s borders.
Moscow’s defence ministry said in a statement that, “Units of the Southern Military, District, having completed their participation in tactical exercises, are moving to their permanent deployment points.”
While, several 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.
It comes a day after Moscow released a statement that it was pulling back some of its troops that have been deployed on its neighbour’s borders.
But Western regions are still vigilant that Russia could still launch an attack on Ukraine, with US President Joe Biden warning on Tuesday that an attack by remained “very much a possibility.”
Whereas President Biden said that despite Russian claims earlier in that day, Washington and its allies had yet to verify the withdrawal of any of the tens of thousands of troops he says Moscow has now mustered along Ukraine’s border.
At the same time, a bunch of cyber attacks hits on Tuesday by knocking the websites of the Ukrainian army, the defense ministry and major banks offline. Around ten of the Ukrainian websites were unable to reach due to the attacks, including the defense, foreign and cultural ministries and Ukraine’s two largest state banks. One European diplomat said that cyberattacks are a longstanding component of Russian strategy and used by Moscow in past military confrontations with Georgia and Ukraine. “It is a part of their playbook,” the official added.
According to the reports, Defence ministers of NATO are expected to meet in Brussels on Wednesday. The ministers will discuss Russia’s claims of withdrawing its troops. The United Kingdom and the United States of America have already made a statement that they see no proof of the withdrawal.