About 40%-50% of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border are in attack positions, according to a US defense official.
Quoting Reuters on Saturday (19/2), western countries fear conflict if Russia invades Ukraine on a scale not seen in Europe at least since the 1990 Yuhoslabia and Chechnya wars, which killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were about 150,000 Russian troops on the border, including about 125 battalion tactical groups.
The percentage of troops in attack positions was higher than previously known and suggested that the Russian units could attack Ukraine with little or no warning.
The official did not provide evidence for the assessment and did not specify whether the attack positions were on the border with Ukraine or in the separatist-held part of eastern Ukraine.
