US urges Russia to pull back

KIEV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Moscow to end its “reckless and aggressive actions” on Ukraine’s border, as Russia was accused of failing to keep its promise to withdraw troops from the volatile region.

“We stand strongly with you,” Mr Blinken, 59, told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Thursday during his first visit to Kiev as America’s top diplomat.

Last month, Russia amassed an estimated 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s eastern border and in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula it illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Moscow denied the forces were a threat to Ukraine. It said the build-up was part of a military exercise aimed at countering NATO drills involving 28,000 troops across eastern Europe.

Russia had vowed it would complete the withdrawal of its troops by May 1.

Mr Zelensky, 43, said Russia had pulled back only a tiny fraction of its troops. “There still may be a threat. Nobody wants these surprises,” he said.

US officials told The New York Times that about 80,000 soldiers were still gathered near Ukraine’s borders.

“We are monitoring the situation very, very closely,” Mr Blinken (pictured) said. Despite concerns, he said that there had been a reduction in sniper fire on the tense frontline in the nation’s east.

About 30 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the year, the majority of them by snipers.

Mr Zelensky has been pressing for NATO to fasttrack its application to join the alliance to provide his country with protection against Russian aggression.

The US and EU are wary about accepting Ukraine into NATO.