Ukraine sees no imminent threat of Russian attack

A top Ukrainian defence official said that the Russian forces massed near the ex-Soviet state's borders did not appear to be ready to launch an all-out assault.

Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said the forces, estimated at more than 100,000 soldiers backed up by heavy artillery and tanks, were being used primarily "for political pressure and blackmail" at this stage.

US officials in Washington have said Russia appeared to have 70 percent of the troops and equipment needed to launch a mass invasion of Ukraine.

Malyar told reporters in the government-held eastern frontline town of Avdiivka that the threat of a Russian attack was real.

But she stressed that talk of an imminent war was premature.

"We see a concentration of military personnel and equipment. But as of today, they are not forming assault groups," Malyar said.

"We also do not see the formation of the infrastructure needed for an immediate escalation."

But she added: "This does not mean that there is not a threat."

European leaders have started to voice some hope that earlier fears of a full-scale war breaking out in the coming days or weeks were fading thanks to an intense diplomatic push.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had secured a pledge from Russia's Vladimir Putin during marathon talks in Moscow this week that the Kremlin "would not be the source of an escalation".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said Wednesday that the flurry of diplomatic efforts marked "progress".

Malyar said Russia's ultimate goal was not to seize Ukraine but to destabilise the West.

"Putting Ukraine under its full control is not Russia's final objective," she said.

"Its strategic objective is to ruin the political and security alliances of Western countries."