U.S. says Russia's claims of troop withdrawal were "false"
AxiosFeb 17, 2022
US and NATO officials on Wed. said they've seen no major withdrawal of troops from Ukraine's border after Russia announced the move earlier in the week. Russia has instead been accused of increasing its presence by an additional 7,000 troops.
This comes as German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, skuttled between Ukraine and Russia in attempts at mediation. He spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday and with Putin Tuesday.
Putin is offering to reopen negotiations and is making grand gestures of troop withdrawals, but behind the scenes continues to mobilize for war. The threat of Ukrainian invasion is still very much real.
The US and Western media are mounting a propaganda campaign and deliberately stoking military tensions with false claims. They want war at any cost just to distract from their own problems at home.
There's a 65% chance Russia will invade Ukraine in 2022, according to the Metaculus prediction community.