Russia Masses Troops on Crimea Border; Ukraine Warns Russian Invasion Possible 'At Any Minute'

The situation in Ukraine is heating up again. In the past few days, numerous article discuss a Russian military buildup on the Crimea-Ukraine border.

The Irish Times offers this sensational headline: Ukraine Claims Russian Invasion Possible ‘At Any Minute’.

Ukraine has claimed that a Russian invasion is possible “at any minute”, amid reports that Moscow’s troops and armour were on the move in Crimea and a separatist leader in eastern Ukraine survived a bomb attack.

The warning from Kiev stoked fears of a return to all-out war in Ukraine, where the United Nations and monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have noted an ominous recent surge in violence.

Witnesses

Ukraine Today piles on with Russia Massing Tanks Near Crimean Border With Mainland Ukraine – Witnesses.

Witnesses report large amounts of Russian military hardware have been massed near the towns of Dzhankoy and Armyansk in Crimea’s north, close to the administrative border with mainland Ukraine.

“At about 07:00 local time today [Sunday, August 7], the Russian occupying authorities suspended, for unknown reasons, the handling of citizens and vehicles crossing the administrative border with Crimea,” the press center of the State Border Service of Ukraine told UNIAN on Sunday.

Colonel Cassad Chimes In

As is typically the case, one needs to turn to Colonel Cassad for an accurate assessment.

Translation from Russian is always difficult, and in this case impossible (at least for me) because the above article is not text, but an image of text.

Reader Jacob Dreizin comes to the rescue. Piecing together various Cassad articles, there was a raid from Ukraine into Crimea two nights ago. The Russian border post at Armiansk (Armyansk) was attacked. Unofficial reports suggest there are one to four dead on the Russian side.

In response, scores of military vehicles have been brought to the area, with helicopters in the air.

The above link discusses seven infiltrators from Ukraine and acknowledges unspecified “losses” on the Russian side.

Assassination Attempt

On Saturday, Igor Plotnitsky, leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic is believed to have been injured when a bomb exploded in Luhansk beside the vehicle he was traveling in.

Unknown Reasons Explained

Other than assassination attempts and a border attack by Armed Forces of the Ukraine commando team, the Ukraine-Crimea border was closed for “unknown” reasons.

Border attack analysis was readily available on Colonel Cassad, but somehow such reports never make it into mainstream media.

Instead, we see headline stories like Russia masses troops on Crimea border in “preparation of invasion at any minute”.