RUSSIA BEGINS MILITARY DRILLS WITH BELARUS

Russia and Belarus have started 10 days of joint military drills amid ongoing fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The US has called the drills believed to be Russia’s biggest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War, an “escalatory” move while Ukraine says they amount to “psychological pressure”.

Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops at the border but the US and other Western countries have warned that an attack could come at any time.

Meanwhile, talks aimed at reducing the tensions are expected to take place later today and will include Russian and Ukrainian envoys along with France and Germany – known as the Normandy quartet.