Russia has 150,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, EU estimates

Russia’s troop deployment has sparked fears of an imminent escalation in hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has amassed more than 150,000 troops along its western border with Ukraine and in annexed Crimea in recent weeks, the European Union’s top diplomat said on Monday after a briefing from Ukraine’s foreign minister. The military build-up has sparked fears of an imminent escalation in the years-long conflict which has racked eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where government forces have battled Russian-backed separatists since the rebels seized a swath of territory there in April 2014. Josef Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the troop deployment was unprecedented.