Russia deploys 7,000 more troops to Ukraine border, US official says

• A US official says Russia has deployed roughly 7,000 more troops to the Ukrainian border.
• That brings the estimated total deployment to more than 150,000 troops.

Russia has deployed about 7,000 more troops to the border with Ukraine, a senior US official said Thursday, according to multiple news outlets, a report that comes just a day after Moscow claimed it was reducing its troop presence.

"We now know it was false," the official said, according to NBC News.

The Biden administration had warned last week that a full-scale Russian invasion of its neighbor could begin as early as Wednesday. Russia on Tuesday said it was pulling back some of its forces that had completed military exercises.

"Every indication we have now is they mean only to publicly offer to talk, and make claims about de-escalation, while privately mobilizing for war," the official said, per CNN.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia is now estimated to have stationed more than 150,000 troops along the border with Ukraine. In 2014, Moscow seized part of the country, Crimea, after Ukraine's president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Russia in the face of mass protests. Russia has also backed separatists in the east of the country, arguing it is doing so to protect Russian speakers.

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