Hundreds of military trains packed with Russian troops are being deployed to Ukraine's neighbour Belarus, it emerged last night, as PM Boris Johnson warned of a bloody “new Chechnya” if Moscow invades.
The Mirror has learned as many as 30 train loads of Moscow’s troops have entered Belarus in the past week - with a staggering 200 scheduled for the next few days.
Russia’s Belarus troop build-up by far exceeds its claims of a “military exercise” as a recent similar wargaming project dubbed Zapad amounted to 25 trains over a month.
Sources told the Mirror of the Belarus build-up as Russia continued to increase its troop presence in the neighbouring country, in Crimea and along the contested Donbas frontier.
Moscow’s warships are also off Ukraine, many of them with an amphibious attack capability.
Latest news of Russia’s pressuring Ukraine amid fears of a full-scale invasion sparked alarm in Westminster with PM Boris Johnson branding it “gloomy intelligence.”
He suggested Russia is believed to be planning a lightning raid on Kyiv- a “disastrous step” which will cause a bloody and protracted war against a determined Ukraine defence.
Johnson said: "The intelligence is very clear that there are 60 Russian battle groups on the borders of Ukraine, the plan for a lightning war that could take out Kyiv is one that everybody can see.
"We need to make it very clear to the Kremlin, to Russia, that that would be a disastrous step."
He warned that the people of Ukraine would resist any invasion and "from a Russian perspective, (it) is going to be a painful, violent and bloody business", he said.
"I think it's very important that people in Russia understand that this could be a new Chechnya."
Britain has started evacuating embassy staff from Kyiv, as the US began a diplomatic pullout amid fears consular staff could be at risk from espionage from Russian spies.
One source told the Daily Mirror: “In many ways the UK embassy staff are more vulnerable than Americans so the decision was taken to withdraw families and others.
“The fear is that Russia will step up hybrid attacks on embassy staff, trying to recruit them, manipulate them, bully them and even harm them or launch cyber attacks against them.”
Around 126,000 Russian troops are amassed at Ukraine’s border and thousands in Belarus on “exercise” could bolster them with an attack from the north.
The Foreign Office said: "Some embassy staff and dependents are being withdrawn from Kyiv in response to the growing threat from Russia.
"The British Embassy remains open and will continue to carry out essential work."
Meanwhile, Nato has committed more ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe and the US is thrashing out plans to send 5,000 troops to the Baltic States to bolster against Russia.
American F15 jets were seen training at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on Monday as tensions continue to rise between the west and Russia.
Members of the Nato alliance, including Denmark, Spain, Bulgaria and the Netherlands, are sending more fighter jets and warships to Eastern Europe to bolster defences in the region.
The UK has sent thousands of NLAW anti-tank missiles and around 100 troops to Ukraine to help local forces learn how to use them against a Russian onslaught.
