The U.S. has shared intelligence, including maps with allies in Europe, which “shows a build-up of Russian troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into Ukraine from multiple locations” in the event of an invasion. Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in a move widely condemned by the West.

“We see an unusual concentration of troops, and we know that Russia has been willing to use these types of military capabilities before to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine,” NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said of the recent troop build-up.

Airstrikes, artillery, and armour attacks would most likely be followed by airborne assaults in the east, amphibious assaults in Odesa and Mariupol, and a lesser incursion via neighbouring Belarus. Ukraine Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told Military Times in an exclusive interview Saturday morning.

He stated earlier this year that Russia’s large-scale Zapad 21 military drill demonstrated that they could drop up to 3,500 airborne and special operations personnel at once.

The strike Russia is planning, according to Budanov, would be considerably more severe than anything witnessed so far in the conflict, which began in 2014 and has resulted in the deaths of around 14,000 Ukrainians.

After an uptick in violence in early 2021, Russia has moved swaths of troops on Ukraine’s borders in the spring, raising fears of a major escalation. NATO said there had been an “unusual concentration” of Russian forces along the border.

According to estimates, 100,000 Russian troops have massed near Ukraine’s border near Donets. A satellite image, released by private company Maxar Technologies, shows hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles near the Ukrainian border.

Commercial satellite photos taken in January 2021 confirm recent reports that Russia is massing troops and military equipment on the border with Ukraine.

The new photos show armoured formations, tanks, self-propelled artillery, and ground soldiers massing near the small Russian town of Yelnya, which is close to the Belarussian border. The elite 1st Guards Tank Army is among the forces that began deploying in late September from other parts of Russia where they were previously stationed. It is also reported that Russia’s 4th Tank Division has been sent to locations between Bryansk and Kursk, near Ukraine’s northern border. The forces use T-80U main combat tanks and self-propelled artillery. The 1st Guards Tank Army has also been observed in the vicinity. The army is “built to perform operations at every combat level, from counterinsurgency to mechanised warfare.”