As Pres. Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, warning him against launching a renewed invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers were going through an ordinary day on the front in eastern Ukraine.
But in positions on the edge of Avdiivka, an industrial town in Ukraine's Donbas region where Ukrainian troops have been dug in opposite the Russian-backed separatist lines for seven years, the call seemed to attract only mild attention. Although they acknowledged uncertainty about it, there was little sense the Ukrainian soldiers were bracing for an imminent invasion.
Oleksiy Kasyanov, a 22-year-old lieutenant from the 25th Airborne Brigade, said he was aware of the Russian build-up but said he thinks it's mostly posturing. U.S. officials have said they do not think Putin has yet decided to use force or if the build-up is just a ploy to intimidate. But they fear the possibility of invasion is now higher than any time since 2015.
Putin has denied Russia is preparing any type of invasion, accusing Western countries and Ukraine of provoking tensions.Brigadier General Anatoly Shevchenko, deputy commander for Ukraine's Joint Forces, said that military activity along the frontline had increased slightly but"not a lot."
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