Russia-Belarus drill: Fighters, tanks, Tornado rocket launchers in operation

France advised against travel to border areas of northern and eastern Ukraine but has not told its citizens to leave the country.

Servicemen attend joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of a military excercise at the Gozhsky firing range in the Grodno region.

Fearing an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, many countries are urging their citizens there to leave and are cutting back their diplomatic staff.

Among the countries that have called on their nationals to leave Ukraine are the United States, Germany, Italy, Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Australia, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

 

A helicopter fires during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of a military exercise at the Gozhsky firing range in the Grodno region.

France advised against travel to border areas of northern and eastern Ukraine, but has not told its citizens to leave the country.

Romania, which borders Ukraine, has strongly recommended its nationals avoid travel to the country and to "re-evaluate the need to stay" if already there.

Servicemen attend joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of a military excercise at the Gozhsky firing range in the Grodno region.

The Dutch airline KLM announced Saturday that it was suspending its flights to Ukraine until further notice.

But the Ukrainian infrastructure ministry said Sunday the country would leave its airspace open despite the possibility of a Russian invasion.

 

 

A rocket launcher systems Smerch (Tornado) during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of an inspection of the Union State's Response Force at a firing range near Brest.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday invited US President Joe Biden to visit Kyiv to show Washington's support in the face of a feared Russian invasion.

Zelensky's office said the two leaders had discussed potential economic sanctions against Russia should it invade its western neighbour, having surrounded it with more than 100,000 troops in the past weeks.

Rocket rocket launcher systems Uragan (Hurricane) during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus.

The West has remained united and defiant in the face of Putin's demands for binding security guarantees that would see NATO roll back its forces and rule out Ukraine's potential membership of the alliance.

But US intelligence officials worry that weeks of crisis talks have given Russia the time to prepare a major offensive -- should Putin make the ultimate decision to attack Ukraine.

Rocket launcher systems Uragan (Hurricane) being fired during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lands in Kyiv on Monday before visiting Moscow to try to head off a "very critical" threat of a Russian invasion that could spark the worst crisis since the Cold War.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has surrounded Ukraine from nearly all sides with more than 100,000 soldiers in a high-stakes standoff with the West over NATO's post-Soviet expansion into countries once under the Kremlin's domain.

Russian tank in operation during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus.

Washington reaffirmed its warning Sunday that Russia was now ready to strike at "any moment" with an assault that would likely start with "a significant barrage of missiles and bomb attacks".

US President Joe Biden briefed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday about his hour-long phone call with Putin the previous day. Biden's talks with Putin broke no new ground, the White House said.

Fighter jets fly in formation during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of a military excercise at the Gozhsky firing range in the Grodno region. 

The diplomatic drawdown has also touched the staff of the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) monitoring mission in Ukraine.

The mission said "certain participating states" had asked their staff to leave Ukraine "within the next days".

But it stressed that its mission continued in 10 cities throughout the country.

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