Thread by @AFP

VIDEO: Ukraine reeling after kindergarten shelling.

A witness recounts the moment a projectile blew a hole in the wall of a two-storey building being used by 20 children and 18 staff in the government-held eastern Ukrainian village of Stanytsia-Luganska

Witnesses reel after shelling of kindergarten in Ukraine.

Both Kyiv and the Russian-backed rebels fighting across Ukraine's southeast have accused each other of launching a dangerous wave of new attacks across the front

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#BREAKING US says Blinken, Lavrov to meet next week if no Ukraine invasion

VIDEO: Russian forces are "preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells a United Nations Security Council meeting, detailing how events might unfold if Moscow decides to invade Ukraine

#BREAKING Russia risking European peace with 'Cold War demands': German FM

#UPDATE "With an unprecedented deployment of troops on the border with Ukraine and Cold War demands, Russia is challenging fundamental principles of the European peace order," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says, ahead of the annual Munich Security Conference

#BREAKING Russia says withdrawing more tanks, hardware from near Ukraine

#UPDATE Russia says it is withdrawing more tanks and other armoured vehicles from areas near Ukraine's border after running war games that had raised concerns in the West.

After previous pullback announcements, the US said Russia was actually increasing forces on the border

#BREAKING Ukraine and separatists trade accusations of new shelling

#UPDATE The Ukrainian military and their Russian-backed separatist foes have traded allegations of fresh ceasefire breaches, a day after the shelling of a kindergarten sent international tensions soaring

#BREAKING Russia announces new drills involving 'strategic forces' Saturday

#BREAKING Moscow says Putin to oversee 'strategic' missile drills

#BREAKING Number of Russian troops around Ukraine reaches 149,000: Kyiv

#BREAKING Ukraine says 'no intention' to attack separatists

#UPDATE President Vladimir Putin will oversee military drills involving Russian "strategic forces", news agencies said Friday, which will include ballistic and cruise missile launches

#UPDATE Ukraine's defence minister said Friday that the number of Russian forces around his former Soviet republic has reached 149,000

#UPDATE Ukraine's defence minister said Friday his armed forces do not intend to attack eastern separatists or launch an operation to reclaim the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea by force

#UPDATE Shellfire rang out in eastern Ukraine as the army and Moscow-backed separatists accused each other of provocations and US warnings of an imminent Russian invasion stoked international tension
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#BREAKING US sees 'more forces moving into' Ukraine border region: Austin

#UPDATE US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said Washington was seeing "more" Russian forces moving into the Ukraine border region, despite Moscow's announcement of withdrawals

#BREAKING Biden to hold video talks with Western leaders on Ukraine Friday: European sources

#UPDATE US President Joe Biden will hold talks with Western allies on Friday to discuss Ukraine as fears swirl Russia could be seeking to create a pretext to invade, European sources confirmed

#BREAKING Ukraine conflict would be 'catastrophic': UN chief

#UPDATE It would be "catastrophic" if the Russia-Ukraine crisis escalated into a war, UN chief Antonio Guterres told the opening ceremony of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, which Moscow is not attending this year

#BREAKING Ukraine separatist leader in Donetsk says evacuating civilians to Russia 'from today'

#BREAKING Russia troop deployment on Ukraine border an 'absolutely unacceptable threat': German foreign minister Baerbock

#BREAKING Russia creating 'false provocations' in Ukraine in past 24-48 hours: Blinken

#BREAKING US Defence Sec. Austin urges 'de-escalation' in call with Russian counterpart: US officials

#BREAKING Russian President Putin says sees 'deterioration of situation' in eastern Ukraine

#BREAKING Macron calls for 'halt' to bombardments in east Ukraine

#BREAKING Vice President Kamala Harris tells Baltic states US commitment to protecting allies 'iron clad'

#UPDATE The United States on Friday accused Russia of seeking a pretext to invade #Ukraine, as shellfire rang out in the east of the country and Moscow-backed rebels ordered a civilian evacuation of their breakaway enclaves u.afp.com/wMKQ