‘Can’t just fly away’

The Kremlin yesterday said that Russia's withdrawal of forces from around Ukraine's borders would take place over an extended period, after reports of Moscow's drawdown drew scepticism from Kyiv's allies.

Compounding the war fears, Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces traded accusations yesterday that each had fired across the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine.

Western countries have repeatedly accused Russia of planning to use an incident in the rebel-held areas to justify an attack, while Moscow, for its part, has accused Kyiv of planning an escalation to try to recapture territory by force.

"This is a process that will take some time," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, after Moscow had announced two separate pullbacks following drills that raised fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Western countries have accused Russia of building up more than 100,000 troops around ex-Soviet Ukraine and warned of crippling sanctions if Moscow escalates an ongoing separatist conflict there by moving in troops.

The Kremlin denies planning to invade and has said the troops are taking part in drills. It has also criticised Western officials for commenting on how Russia moves its army on its own territory.

"The defence ministry has reported that certain phases of the exercises are coming to an end, and as they do, military units are returning to permanent bases," Peskov said.

He added however that forces "can't just take to the air and all fly away," adding that on the drawdown the defence ministry "has a schedule".

The joint drills in Belarus -- which the US says involves some 30,000 Russian troops -- are set to end on Sunday.

After previously announced withdrawals earlier this week, the United States, Nato and Ukraine all said they had seen no evidence of a pullback.

The Russian defence ministry said units of the southern military district were returning to bases from Moscow-annexed Crimea and that tank units of the western military district had departed on a military train for their bases 1,000 kilometres away.

It did not provide details on the specific amount of troops or equipment involved.

Russia's defence ministry released video it said showed more departing units. Maxar Technologies, a private US company that has been tracking the buildup, said satellite images showed that while Russia has pulled back some military equipment from near Ukraine, other hardware has arrived.

The new troops withdrawal announcements come as a senior White House official on Wednesday said Russian announcements of withdrawal were "false", accusing Moscow of increasing its presence on the border by "as many as 7,000 troops".

Russia has blamed the West for provoking the tensions, saying Washington and its European allies have for too long ignored Moscow's security concerns on its doorstep.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine be forever banned from fulfilling its hopes of joining Nato and for the alliance to roll back its deployments near Russia's borders.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday said that Moscow would send a reply to US proposals about European security later in the day.

A UN Security Council meeting is also set later yesterday to discuss the crisis.