Source: CNN
According to satellite imagery available to CNN, a large Russian military base set up near the border with Ukraine, carrying tanks and artillery, is now almost empty and the forces there have moved even closer to the Ukrainian border.
The base is located in Yelnya, southeast of the city of Smolensk, about 160 miles (about 250 km) away from the Ukrainian border. By the end of 2021, Russian forces had transported about 700 tanks, infantry vehicles and rocket launchers.
Photo: CNN - Maxar Technologies
Most of them, however, had left by February 6, according to satellite imagery in CNN's possession.
Military experts, cited by the US News Network, say the accumulation of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border now appears to be entering a new phase of impending attack.
Photo: CNN - Maxar Technologies
Videos posted on social media show part of the Russian weapons system moving inside the Bryansk region, near the border with Ukraine.
According to CNN, Russian forces are also moving to the Kursk region, which is located 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Artillery that is under "normal" conditions in the Moscow region has now moved closer to the border with Ukraine, covering a distance of 400 kilometers.
"We believe that there is a very distinct possibility that Vladimir Putin will order an attack on Ukraine. This attack could take a number of different forms. It could happen tomorrow or in a few weeks […] ", US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, speaking on the show "This Week" on ABC network.
Earlier, US officials had said that Russia had raised about 70 percent of the troops needed for a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
