Russia Issues Warning “Ready for conflict” Is World War III Unfolding?

‘Ready for conflict’: Putin’s threat to the West is laid bare in new footage showing build-up of troops and military convoys on Ukraine’s border as Kiev warns it could be provoked by Russian ‘aggression’

• • New footage claims to show inside of Russia’s massive deployment on border 
  • Ukraine estimates there are now a staggering 85,000 Russian troops in the area
  • There have been mounting tensions in the country’s eastern Donbass region 
  • Andrii Taran, Ukraine’s defence minister, issued a statement earlier today  
  • US is to dispatch two warships to sail through the Bosphorus on April 14 and 15 
  • Washington continuing to fly reconnaissance planes to monitor Russian activity
  • But it comes as Russia claims to have intercepted an American RC-135 spy plane 
  • Putin’s threat to the West has been laid bare in new footage showing a build-up of troops and military convoys on Ukraine’s border as Kiev warns it could be provoked by Russian ‘aggression’.The clip, with the caption ‘ready for conflict’, appeared to show Vladimir Putin’s armoured vehicles ploughing through the mud to manoeuvre into position.The latest images to leak of the vast military build-up are evidently shot by Russian troops involved in the controversial deployment which has sparked deep worry in the West.Some show a train convoy of military vehicles moving through Baltaysk in Russia’s Rostov region within striking distance of the international border.Others are said to be in Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh regions – all areas where a massing of Russian military might including tanks and missiles such as the notorious BUK has been seen in recent days.

    Ukraine estimates there are now a staggering 85,000 Russian troops between six and 25 miles from its frontier and in Crimea.

    It comes after Ukraine warned that it could be provoked by Russian ‘aggression’ in light of Putin’s colossal build-up of military hardware.

    Andrii Taran, Ukraine’s defence minister, issued a statement on Saturday amid mounting tensions in the country’s eastern Donbass region.

    He said Russian accusations about the rights of Russian-speakers being violated could be the reason for the resumption of armed aggression against Ukraine.

    ‘At the same time, it should be noted that the intensification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is possible only if an appropriate political decision is made at the highest level in the Kremlin,’ he said

Russian figures have warned that Ukraine could be destroyed as a state in a new war but the West remains unsure about Putin’s exact motives in shifting military hardware and troops several thousand miles from Siberia into the conflict zone.

More than 13,000 have died since Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and sent in troops to back rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

Some experts believe the vast military movements are simply a warning by Putin to new US president Joe Biden and the West, rather than a sign of an imminent war.

‘Russia is testing everyone’s nerves and declaring its position: It should remain an important player for other countries, both the United States and Ukraine,’ Ruslan Leviev, an analyst with the Conflict Intelligence Team, told The Washington Post.

‘They are trying to show that Russia will not tolerate any sanctions or other actions put in place to pressure them to return Crimea to Ukraine or to change the course of things in Donbas (eastern Ukraine).’