The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of lying about pulling back troops from Ukraine’s borders, saying that Moscow has added more than 7,000 combatants in recent days, and that there was fresh evidence it was mobilizing for war.
The claim, by a senior administration official who spoke to reporters on Wednesday evening, came as other Western allies expressed similar doubts that Russia was backing away from a military confrontation.
The senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss recent intelligence findings, said intelligence officials have confirmed that the troop increase continued on Wednesday, after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared that with exercises over, some troops were returning to barracks.
British military officials also said on Wednesday that they had spotted Russian armored vehicles, helicopters and a field hospital moving toward Ukraine’s border.
“Contrary to their claims, Russia continues to build up military capabilities near Ukraine,” Lt. Gen. Jim Hockenhull, the British chief of defense intelligence, said in a statement. “Russia has the military mass in place to conduct an invasion of Ukraine.”
If accurate, the Biden administration’s claims would suggest that the hopes in the past 48 hours that Russia was veering toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis may have been premature.
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