'Putin is NOT bluffing': Top US diplomat in Ukraine calls Russia 'bullies' and Blinken says Moscow is moving military units TOWARDS the Ukrainian border as US says there is no evidence of any Kremlin retreat

 Kristina Kvien, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, on Wednesday referred to Russia as 'bullies' and said Russian President Vladimir Putin was not bluffing by amassing thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border.

'I fear he's not,' said Kristina Kvien, the charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine.

She spoke from Lviv, near the border, where the U.S. has relocated diplomatic personnel from the embassy in Kiev. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday morning that Vladimir Putin is moving critical military units towards the border with Ukraine and has seen no evidence of Russia's claims it is pulling troops back.

Blinken added he West 'needs to see the opposite' of the Kremlin's motives and warned Moscow could still 'pull the trigger' at any time.

His comments came as the White House scrambled to find a diplomatic solution after President Biden on Tuesday vowed to defend NATO allies and warned Moscow he would respond 'forcefully' if America or its citizens were attacked. 

The White House also dispatched officials to the Middle East to urge Saudi Arabia to pump more oil with a Russian invasion of Ukraine set to cause gas prices to surge even further . 

President Biden will also hold a call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday after his trip to Moscow while the Kremlin's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov said he was 'puzzled' by the 'hysteria' over the possibility of a military conflict.

Ukrainians also defied pressure from Moscow with a national show of flag-waving unity to coincide with the rumoured date of Putin's invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 'we can defend our home only if we stay united.'

'There's what Russia says and then there's what Russia does, and we haven't seen any pullback of its forces,' Blinken said Wednesday on NBC's Morning Joe.   

Blinken said Russian troops 'remain massed in a very threatening way along Ukraine's borders. It would be good if they followed through on what they said, but so far we haven't seen it.'

'We continue to see not only these forces mass, we continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border. So, what we need to see is exactly the opposite. We need to see these forces moving away,' Blinken added.

He said President Vladimir Putin could 'pull the trigger' at any time – in further comments to ABC's 'Good Morning America', appearing on a day that had been forecast for a possible invasion.   

He said forces 'that would be in the vanguard of any renewed aggression against Ukraine' continued to 'mass at the border' and that the U.S. had seen 'no meaningful pullback'

'We said that we were in a window of time in which the invasion could come at any time. President Putin's put in place the capacity to act on very short notice. He could pull the trigger,' Blinken said. 'He could pull it today. He could pull it tomorrow. He could pull it next week. The forces are there if he wants to renew aggression against Ukraine.' 

His remarks come a day after President Joe Biden said the U.S. has been unable to verify the Russian claims – and said used a number for the estimated Russian troop level that was 20,000 higher than the previous figure.  

After mentioning a Russian Defense Ministry statement about moving some units back to their bases, Biden said: 'That would be good, but we have not yet verified that. We have not yet verified that Russian military units are returning to their home bases. Indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position. And the fact remains: Right now, Russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine in Belarus and along Ukraine’s border.' 

U.S. officials have pointed to a number of factors Moscow may be assessing as it continues to mass troops, including the need to have enough frozen ground to move its heavy armor.

But Russia's ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, added another factor in comments to German paper Die Welt. 'Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday,' he said. 

'As far as Russia is concerned, I can assure you that there will be no attack this Wednesday,' he added. 'There will be no escalation in the coming week either, or in the week after that, or in the coming month.'

U.S. officials are unlikely to take any of Moscow's claims at face value. State Department spokesman Ned Price spoke repeatedly about Russian 'disinformation' in comments to CNN Wednesday. 

'We know the Russian playbook. We know the Russians engaged in misinformation and disinformation. We have good reason to believe the Russians are saying one thing and doing another in an effort to obfuscate an effort to hide the truth,' Price said. 

Elsewhere today... 

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he is 'positive' that Biden is ready to enter into talks about European security and Putin wants to engage 
• Russia denied having anything to do with a cyberattack that took down banks and the website of Ukraine's defence ministry overnight 
• The EU called on Russia to take 'concrete steps' to de-escalate its troop build-up around Ukraine, while hailing 'signs of hope' 
• Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's right-wing leader, arrived in Moscow for trade talks today - brushing off pressure from the US to cancel the trip 

The U.S. has been unable to verify Russian claims that it was pulling back some forces. Moscow released footage showing tanks from units of the Western Military District returning to their bases

Russian units leaving Crimea are moving back to their bases in South Ossetia and Dagestan, Moscow says, while some troops are also being moved - albeit not very far away

Ukrainian fighter-bomb jets take part in training exercises Povursk airfield in the country's west as national 'unity day' protests take place in defiance of Russian threats

A Ukrainian tank takes part in live-fire drills near the city of Rivne, in the country's west, on Thursday as thousands of Russian troops mass in the east

Sergei Lavrov, who has been leading negotiations with NATO and the US, said in Moscow on Wednesday that 'hysteria' over an invasion is 'puzzling' to Russia while accusing the allies of trying to dictate where Putin can position troops on his own territory. 

He spoke after the UK on Tuesday threatened to block Russian companies from raising capital in London and to expose the owners of properties and companies - a loophole that some Russians use to hide wealth in this country. 

His comments mark the opening salvo of renewed negotiations between East and West over the fate of Ukraine, after Moscow said Tuesday that it was withdrawing some forces and was ready to talk about new European security treaties.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said earlier today that he has seen no sign that Russia's withdrawal is genuine, rubbishing videos of tanks being taken away as routine troop movements. Russia actually appears to be increasing its forces, he added.  

'If they really start to withdraw , that's something we will welcome. But that remains to be seen,' he added while sitting down for a NATO summit in Brussels on next moves. 'Just seeing the movement of battle tanks doesn't confirm a real withdrawal.'

Ben Wallace, UK defence secretary, sounded a similar note of caution as he arrived for the summit - saying that Russia's forces remain at a high level of readiness that can be maintained for 'weeks' as talks resume at the barrel of a gun. 

A Ukrainian tank takes part in live-fire exercises near the city of Rivne, in the country's west, amid continued fears that Russia is positioning itself to attack

Ukrainian soldiers carrying anti-tank weapons take part in a joint drill with an armoured vehicle in western Ukraine

Tank shells explode as they hit fake vehicles during target practice by Ukraine's military near the city of Rivne today

Hundreds of Ukrainians unfurled a 650ft flag at Kiev's Olympic Stadium as part of 'unity day' celebrations on Wednesday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives at a military drill for Ukrainian soldiers to show his support

Zelenskiy examines weapons as he attends tactical military exercises held by the country's armed forces at a training ground in Rivne, in the country's west

Ukrainian soldiers pose for a photo in Odessa, southern Ukraine, during 'unity day' celebrations in defiance of Russia

Underlining concerns about the Russian 'withdrawal', analysts from Conflict Intelligence Team - a respected group which tracks Russian military movements - said forces being withdrawn from Crimea will actually be moved closer to Ukraine. 

Moscow says the units are being moved to their 'home bases', but the homes of at least three of the four units leaving Crimea are as close or closer than their current position relative to Ukraine.

Izvestia newspaper reported that units of the 3rd, 42nd and 150th Motorised Rifle Divisions are being sent back to their permanent bases.

Yet the 3rd is based at Valuyki and Boguchar, respectively 15 and 42 miles from the Ukrainian border in Belgorod and Voronezh regions respectively.

The 150th is based in Novocherkassk, Rostov region, some 31 miles from the border.

The troops will be as close - or closer - to the border at their permanent barracks.

Of the three named divisions being pulled out of Crimea, only the 42nd - in Chechnya - is a substantial distance from Ukraine, some 700 miles away.

It comes a day after Putin said he is willing to engage in negotiations with the West over security guarantees designed to ease sky-high tensions. 

Both Mr Stoltenburg and Mr Wallace did welcome the change in tone from Moscow, while pointing out that the crisis is far from over.

'There's over 100 battalion tactical groups of the Russian ground forces, that's 60 per cent of the entire Russian land combat power on the borders of Ukraine,' Mr Wallace said.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister and chief negotiator, has threatened the UK with like-for-like 'retaliation' if fresh sanctions are imposed on Moscow over Ukraine

Russia has released footage of tanks being 'withdrawn' from Crimea, though NATO says it has seen no sign they are heading away from the front 

Ukrainian fighter planes take part in live-fire drills at the Povursk airfield in western Ukraine as they prepare for the possibility of an invasion by Russia

A Ukrainian fighter jet is pictured on the runway at Povursk airfield as it takes part in live-fire drills on Wednesday

The view from a cockpit of a Ukrainian fighter shows other jets flying in formation during drills in the country's west today

'130,000-plus troops, both in Belarus and indeed Ukraine, but also out at sea there's effectively a significant flotilla of Russian and amphibious landing ships, and indeed war ships and missile ships.

'From a Ukrainian point of view they're fairly surrounded by a very large force of ready troops. That continues, they haven't taken the foot of the gas.'

He added: 'That's why we're all here at Nato today and tomorrow to try and work together to reduce tensions and try and de-escalate.'

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, added his voice to the chorus - saying he hasn't seen 'any withdrawal yet'. 

Putin wants Ukraine to be banned from joining NATO and for the alliance to withdraw troops from ex-Soviet states. 

Both of those demands have been dismissed but a range of other compromises have been offered on arms control, transparency around missile deployments, and information-sharing on military drills that Putin has said he is willing to discuss.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister and chief negotiator, has said a 10-page response to NATO's offers has been prepared though not yet sent. 

Kyiv Mayor Wladimir Klitschko has said that he hopes for a 'last-minute' diplomatic solution between Russia and Ukraine.

The former heavyweight champion of the world told LBC that he hoped that Russia would not invade his country on Wednesday.

'It is the first time in the history of Ukraine that so many Russian soldiers stayed at the border', he said.

'The risk (of) aggression towards Ukraine is pretty big. We prepare for any scenario.

'We do not know how the situation will develop but we hope that the invasion does not happen, and that at the last minute we have a diplomatic solution.'

Meanwhile the former head of MI6 Sir John Sawers said that the threat of a 'full-blooded' Russian invasion has now 'receded' after Putin made 'a number of important gains' in the military standoff.   

Images released by Russia show tanks being loaded on to train transports as Moscow claims they are heading back to their permanent bases 

A Russian tanks sits on a train transport as Moscow says forces are being moved away from the front, though doubts have been raised by NATO

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir John said that invasion was always 'very risky' for Putin and the threat of an attack was perhaps not as real as some governments had made out.

'I don't think that President Putin ever decided to invade the country and, indeed, I think it would always have been a very risky course for him to have taken,' he said.

'But I think Russia has also come out of this with a number of important gains,' he added, saying it has got Russia's security concerns back to the top of the international security agenda, the Ukrainians have been intimidated and Europeans have been reminded how dependent they are on Russian gas.

Sir John added: 'I think in some ways President Putin will think he's ahead on points on this and he still has various military options which he can use in Ukraine.

'I think the risk of full-blooded invasion ... was never quite as high as was being portrayed by some Western governments, but I think that has receded.' 

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly sought to project calm but also strength during the crisis. 

In an apparent show of defiance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that Wednesday would be a 'day of national unity,' calling on citizens to display the blue-and-yellow flag and sing the national anthem in the face of 'hybrid threats.'

Even amid the glimmers of hope, Biden said 150,000 Russian forces are now massed near Ukraine and in neighboring Belarus - an increase from an earlier U.S. estimate of 130,000 troops.

Russia's claim that it pulled back troops 'would be good, but we have not yet verified that,' Biden said. 'Indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position.'

Russia has denied having any invasion plans. It wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe.

The U.S. and its allies have roundly rejected those demands, but they offered to engage in talks with Russia on ways to bolster security in Europe.

Speaking after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the West agreed to discuss a ban on missile deployment to Europe, restrictions on military drills and other confidence-building measures - issues that Moscow put on the table years ago.

He said Russia is open to discuss 'some of those elements,' but added that it would do so only in combination 'with the main issues that are of primary importance for us.'

While Scholz reiterated that NATO's eastward expansion 'is not on the agenda - everyone knows that very well,' Putin retorted that Moscow will not be assuaged by such assurances.

'They are telling us it won't happen tomorrow,' Putin said. 'Well, when will it happen? The day after tomorrow? What does it change for us in the historic perspective? Nothing.'

Scholz also said diplomatic options are 'far from exhausted,' and he praised the announcement of a troop withdrawal as a 'good signal,' adding: 'We hope that more will follow.'

The Russian Defense Ministry released images of tanks and howitzers rolling onto railway platforms and more tanks rolling across snowy fields. 

It did not disclose where or when the images were taken, or where the vehicles were headed, other than 'to places of permanent deployment.'