Ukraine crisis: Don't create panic, Zelensky tells West

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West not to create panic amid the build-up of Russian troops on his country’s borders.

He told reporters that warnings of an imminent invasion were putting Ukraine’s economy at risk.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden said he believed Russia could attack its neighbour next month.

Russia, however, denies it is planning to invade and on Friday its foreign minister said Moscow did not want war.

While Russia has about 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, Mr Zelensky said he did not see a greater threat now than during a similar massing of troops last spring.

“There are signals even from respected leaders of states, they just say that tomorrow there will be war. This is panic – how much does it cost for our state?” he told the press conference in Kyiv.

Mr Zelensky also criticised the UK, US and Australian withdrawal of diplomats’ families from Ukraine, saying it had been a mistake.

“The destabilisation of the situation inside the country” is the biggest threat to Ukraine, he said,

The US has rejected a key Moscow demand that Nato rule out Ukraine joining the defence alliance – but insisted it was offering Russia a ” serious diplomatic path”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later accused the West of ignoring Russia’s security concerns.

But he said he would study the US response before deciding what to do, according to a Kremlin readout of a call between Mr Putin and his French counterpart.

France said the two leaders had agreed on the need to de-escalate and its President Emmanuel Macron told Mr Putin that Russia must respect the sovereignty of its neighbouring states.

Meanwhile the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service said Russia was prepared to attack Ukraine, but had not yet decided whether to do so.

“I believe that the decision to attack has not yet been made,” Bruno Kahl told Reuters.

And Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was ready to increase its presence in eastern Europe to demonstrate its resolve.

Mr Stoltenberg said Russia was deploying thousands of combat-ready troops and missile systems into Belarus, which also borders Ukraine.

Russia last month made wide-ranging security demands from the West, including that:

The US and Nato responded by saying Ukraine had the right to choose its own allies but offered Russia talks on missile placements and other issues.

If Russia were to invade Ukraine, it would not be the first time.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula in 2014. It is also backing rebels who seized large swathes of the eastern Donbas region soon afterwards, and some 14,000 people have died in fighting there.