Border of Ukraine feels like the calm before the storm – locals say if the Russians come they are ready
AN eerie calm hung over the symbolic crossroads of a potentially global conflict yesterday.
But I felt a chill in the air as I stood at the northern border crossing Ukraine shares with both Belarus and Russia.
Snow flurries danced across the silent machine gun posts on the desolate border shielded by a razor-wired fence stretching to the frozen horizon.
Only a handful of Ukrainian troops were visible patrolling the freezing no-man’s land.
But locals feared they were witnessing the calm before the storm.
Our inquiries revealed that thousands of Russian troops and tanks were massing just a few miles north.
Satellite and data analysis has revealed that as many as 80,000 troops loyal to President Vladimir Putin may be poised to launch a lightning raid on Ukraine’s capital Kiev from Belarus.
Ukrainian border force officer Oleksandra Stupak gazed north in the direction of the enemy force and declared: “If they come we will be ready.
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“Our orders are to hold this ground until it can be reinforced should the Russians invade — and we will do our duty.
“We have tank traps, bunkers, trenches and a fence along the entire border lined with sensors which could detect any incursion.
“And if they come this way, reserve forces to support us will be here very quickly.”
The unique tri-border is marked ironically by the white painted “Three Sisters” monument to friendship between the three nations in 1975.
But few Ukrainians today expect the hand of friendship from the thousands of Russian troops massed as close as 12 miles from Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus.
Cafe waitress Anastasia Peskova, 25, who works in the the Lavender Cafe in the village of Horodnia, ten miles from the border told me: “I am afraid of the Russians — everyone is.
“I just hope I will have time to escape if they come this way.
“There will be no point running south towards Kiev as that is where they will be heading.
“Most people here will run west should it happen. It is a very uncertain and scary time and we are all preparing for the worst.
“No one wants to live under the power of a man like Putin.”
Tension has been rising for months in the World War One-style trenches of eastern Ukraine as the world held its breath waiting for the first salvo of a terrifying war with Russia.
The 250-mile frontline in the Donbas region occupied by pro-Russian forces for the past seven years has been the focal point of The West’s darkest fears.
But while Ukrainian troops have flooded in to shore up the eastern flank backed by British anti-tank missiles, President Putin has been quietly preparing a new front.
Giant tent cities of troops have appeared in hidden forest sites hundreds of miles from the supposed military exercise sites.
‘PREPARED FOR WAR’
The Kremlin claims it is staging military manoeuvres from February 10-20 — but the huge influx of men and hardware far exceeds levels for normal war game exercises.
Huge numbers of tanks and rocket batteries were pictured arriving by train in the southern Belarusian town of Rechitsa — 40 miles from the border and just 190 miles from Kiev.
In another ominous sign, armoured bridge laying vehicles needed to breach border defences were spotted in Rechitsa – where at least 71 T-72 tanks are now in position.
And fears of a thrust into Ukraine rose further last night as it was revealed an entire battalion of around 500 Spetsnaz special forces troops moving in.
Rechitsa sits in the biggest pocket of Russian troop concentration which also includes the towns of Gomel and Mazyr in southern Belarus.
Sabotage and dark arts fears
By Jerome Starkey
RUSSIA is set to unleash “kompromat” attacks to topple Ukraine’s government and undermine its Nato allies, Western officials have warned.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kremlin’s tactic of getting compromising material — including explicit photographs — to blackmail and discredit enemies was “in the tool box” for Ukraine.
He said Russian Spetsnaz special forces were already in the country plotting sabotage attacks. And Nato warned its allies to brace for a “wide range” of assaults.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a “fully-fledged Russian invasion” remained a terrifying risk.
But he said President Putin’s next move could include a devastating cyber-attack, a coup attempt in Kiev or physical sabotage.
Mr Stoltenberg said: “They have intelligence officers inside Ukraine as we speak. We need to be prepared for a wide range of different forms of aggressive actions.”
The Kremlin said the West had rejected its demands and vowed not to let Russia be “trampled on and ignored”.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted yesterday: “We don’t want a war.”
But satellite imagery and open source analysis has revealed pro Putin forces now threaten Ukraine as far as Yelnya and Bryank in the east and Brest in the west of Belarus.
Columns of tanks and fuel trucks arriving by train have been observed moving south towards Ukraine through fields towards the M-10 highway in recent days.
And thousands more Russian troops and rocket artillery are now also deployed to the town of Yelsk – just 12 miles from Ukrainian soil – following the arrival of the 38th Motor-Rifle brigade.
And as the vast array of military hardware grew, Belarus’s raving despot president Alexander Lukashenko ramped up his rhetoric yesterday.
The tyrant – clinging to office thanks to Putin support – ranted that he wanted a conflict in which the West would “drown Russia, Ukraine and the general Slavic brotherhood in blood.
He went on: “Ukraine will be returned to the bosom of the Slavs. We will definitely do it.
“It will start if there is an attack on Belarus or Russia – the redivision of the world is turning, and the nuclear powers have been trying to build new agreements to avoid a Third World War.
“But they are not succeeding, so the public is now being prepared for war.”
Defence analyst Paul Beaver told The Sun last night: “What is happening in Belarus is a classic Putin ploy – and a classic Russian trait.
“They have a saying which goes: ‘Watch my right hand and my left hand will stab you in the back.’
“By keeping everyone guessing as to from where and how he will stage his attack, Putin continues to hold all the cards while the Ukraine and the world waits for his next move.
“He is enjoying this.”
Head-to-head with Putin's army
A BRIT who was once arrested for fighting against the Islamic State in Syria has now moved to Ukraine where he is ready to defend the country against Russia.
Aiden Aslin is poised to go head-to-head with President Putin’s army as it is on the verge of an invasion and full-scale war.
The 28-year-old spent ten months in Syria where he fought alongside forces against IS but was held under the terrorism act by cops when he returned home.
He was eventually acquitted after a massive public backlash back in 2016.
He has now moved to the Ukraine where he is in a relationship and goes by the name Johnny Wood.
And he has spoken of his fear of Putin’s impending forces and their military power as he served alongside other troops.
They say their biggest fear is Russian drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras.
They’re based on the southern section of the Ukrainian military’s frontline with the separatists in the east of the country, near the town of Pavlopil.
He has told reporters in the country that people think he is crazy for joining.
He said: “That’s a true argument from their side but I’m here, my fiancee is Ukrainian. I’ve got a house in Ukraine, I’m building a family.
“There will always be that person who says I shouldn’t be here, but at the end of the day if I’m not here, like my government’s not here, so like this is the best I can do by doing what my government can’t do.”
Aiden, a care worker from Newark, was held for 30 hours after officers boarded his plane at Heathrow, where members of his family were eagerly awaiting his arrival when he returned from fighting against IS.
His family and local MP, however, pointed out that like many British volunteers, Mr Aslin was fighting alongside a Kurdish unit, the Lions of Rojava, who have shown huge bravery in taking on IS.
The Lions of Rojava were taking on gunmen from IS – also known as Daesh – in the Syrian village of al-Hawl when Mr Aslin’s makeshift armoured car came under direct enemy fire.