Natalia Zinets and Alexander Marrow

MOSCOW/KYIV – Russia claimed more forces around Ukraine were withdrawing Wednesday. NATO however urged Moscow to show it is pulling back and pointing out signs that additional troops might be on the way.

Britain, along with the United States, said it wasn’t convinced that the pullout was true. In Ukraine, however, the defence ministry claimed that an unprecedented cyber attack had begun its second day. Russia claimed it was not involved in any attack.

Russian defense ministry released video showing tanks, infantry fighting vehicle and self-propelled guns leaving the Crimean peninsula. This was taken from Ukraine by Moscow in 2014.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg indicated that pulling out would be welcomed, however moving troops did not prove it.

At the Brussels headquarters of NATO’s defence ministers, the he said to reporters that “it remains to be determined whether there is Russian withdrawal…

This deployment on the Crimean Peninsula was part of an extensive buildup of Russian troops to the south, north and south of Ukraine that began in November. Washington and London warned in recent days about the possibility of a Russian invasion.

Russia dismissed those warnings and called them war propaganda. It announced Tuesday that units are returning to their base following the completion of exercises. The Kremlin stated Wednesday that NATO had misunderstood its assertion that there is no evidence for a pullout, and that Putin has stressed his willingness to negotiate.

Analysts in military intelligence believe that a crucial indicator for a pullback will be the return of units from Russia’s Far East, which took part in massive exercises in Belarus this Week, to their bases thousands miles away.

On Tuesday, Joe Biden of the United States stated that over 150,000 Russian troops are still residing near Ukraine’s border. Washington has not confirmed the pullout, he said.

His analysts indicated that they were still in a very threatening situation, he stated.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace stated to Times Radio that he had not seen evidence for the British government’s withdrawal at this time.

He spoke separately to BBC and said that physical observations show the opposite to some Kremlin rhetoric.

HACKING ATTACK

People in Ukraine raised flags of national unity to protest against invasion fears.

According to the defence ministry, hackers are still attacking its site and have found vulnerabilities in its programming code.

Kyiv has not named the culprit, but it made a statement pointing fingers at Russia.

“It’s not impossible that the aggressor employed dirty little tricks, because its aggressive plans don’t work out on large scale.” said the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security. It is part of Ukraine’s culture ministry.

Russia’s Federal Security Service has not yet responded to Reuters’s request for comment.

Biden stated that Russia could attack the United States and our allies by asymmetric means, such as disruptive cyber attacks on our companies or critical infrastructure. He made the remarks in television broadcasts from the White House.

Russia denies ever planning to invade Ukraine, but it has been pressing the West for security guarantees. This includes a guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO.

Although the United States and allies reject that assertion, they say they will talk about arms control measures and confidence-building.

Putin claimed that after speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin felt the West had ignored Russia’s major demands. However, Moscow is open to dialogue about security issues.

Charles Michel, Head of European Union Council, asked Russia Wednesday to implement concrete measures to end the escalation.

He said, “The choice is now between war and terrible sacrifices that would accompany that war or courage of an political engagement, courage of diplomatic negotiations”.