a feared invasion from neighboring Russia was not imminent, even as they acknowledged the threat is real and prepared to accept a shipment of American military equipment Tuesday to shore up their defenses.Russia has denied it is planning an assault, but it has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks, leading the United States and its NATO allies to rush to prepare for a possible war.Several rounds of high stakes diplomacy have failed to yield any breakthroughs, and this week tensions escalated further.
NATO said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea region, and the U.S. ordered 8,500 troops on higher alert to potentially deploy to Europe as part of an alliance "response force" if necessary.The State Department has ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S.
Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country, and it said that nonessential embassy staff could leave. Britain said it, too, was withdrawing some diplomats and dependents from its embassy.RELATED: Russian invasion of Ukraine concerns soaring, here’s what’s happeningIn Ukraine, however, authorities have sought to project calm.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that the situation was "under control" and that there is "no reason to panic."Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that, as of Monday, that Russia’s armed forces had not formed what he called battle groups, "which would have indicated that tomorrow they would launch an offensive.""There are risky scenarios.
They’re possible and probable in the future," Reznikov told Ukraine’s ICTV channel on Monday. "But as of today ... such a threat doesn’t exist."Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, echoed that.