West sees 'positive signs' as Russia says some troops pull back

Western leaders said they were seeing positive signs that Russia was looking to ease tensions over Ukraine, after Moscow announced it was pulling back some of the troops deployed on its neighbour's borders.

In the first announced withdrawal from among more than 100,000 troops Russia amassed on the Ukrainian border, the defence ministry in Moscow said some soldiers and hardware were returning to bases at the end of planned exercises.

Western leaders had accused Moscow of positioning the troops in advance of a possible invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, warning that any attack would be met with severe economic sanctions.

After a meeting Tuesday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said Russia "of course" did not want war, and was willing to look for solutions with the West.

"We are ready to work further together. We are ready to go down the negotiations track," Putin told a joint press conference with Scholz, confirming a "partial pullback of troops".

The German leader joined others in the West in expressing hope that steps were being taken towards de-escalation in the crisis.

"That we are now hearing that some troops are being withdrawn is in any case a good sign," Scholz said.

"For Europeans it is clear that lasting security cannot be achieved against Russia but only with Russia."

The crisis -- the worst between Russia and the West since the Cold War ended -- reached a peak this week, with US officials warning that a full-scale invasion, including an assault on Kyiv, was possible within days. Washington took the dramatic step on Monday of relocating its embassy in Kyiv to the western city of Lviv, after previously urging US citizens to leave Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry announced the partial withdrawal on Tuesday morning, saying some forces deployed near Ukraine had finished their exercises and were packing up to leave.