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Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting with Russia and dozens of other European states to explain Moscow’s buildup of troops along the ex-Soviet state’s frontier, AFP reports.
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said late on Sunday that Russia had ignored Kyiv’s formal request to explain why Moscow had positioned more than 100,000 troops and advanced weapons around Ukraine.
“Ukraine is convening a meeting with Russia and all member states in the next 48 hours to discuss the reinforcement and movement of Russian forces along our border,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I would like to emphasise once again that we are talking about the movement of Russian troops on Russian territory,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, once again accusing Ukraine of ramping up tensions.
“Large-scale movements of Ukraine’s armed forces are also carried out in the border zone on Ukrainian territory, moreover, in the area that borders on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics, which leads to escalation of the situation”