The RAF are to deploy six Typhoon super jets to Romania along with Expeditionary Logistics Squadron as thousands of Russian troops and tanks mass on the border with Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) chiefs have said the RAF fighter jets will patrol airspace around the Black Sea Coast in the south.
British troops from the RAF’s No 1 Expeditionary Logistics Squadron and No 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron are to leave UK bases this week and head to Romania.
There is fear that there is an imminent threat of an invasion of the Donbas region in the Ukraine as the Kremlin has deployed up to 30 battalion tactical groups with roughly 25,000 troops.
The Russian troops are also on the border with Crimea with artillery, short range ballistic missiles and tanks on the move.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an invitation on 26 March with the Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk over the phone as troops are massing at the border.
Zelensky’s spokeswoman, Luliia Mendel said, “The request has been forwarded from the office of the President of Ukraine to the office of Vladimir Putin to have a conversation, a telephone talk.
“And we have not received an answer yet.
“The office of the President of Ukraine hopes that it doesn’t mean that Vladimir Putin refuses to have a dialogue with Ukraine.”
Eastern Europe Analyst at The EIU, Matthew Sherwood, told the Express, “The conflict goes back to 2014 when Russia invaded and illegally annexed the Crimea peninsula.
“This was followed a few weeks later by fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and separatists backed by Russia.
“Both events occurred after Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution [2013 to 2014] that saw the ousting of the pro-Russia president, Viktor Yanukovich, who now lives in exile in Russia.
“After many years of conflict, the various parties agreed to a ceasefire in July 2020, which has been largely holding but looking increasingly fragile since the beginning of the year.”
However a top US General has said despite Russian troop being on the Ukraine border he believes this is a distraction as Russia are in fact preparing for a different attack.
The former commander of the US Army Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges told Espresso TV that the Russian President is set on capturing the Black Sea Coast in the south.
General Hodges said, “The Kremlin is interested in establishing full control over the Black Sea coast, including Mariupol, Odessa and Berdyansk.
“All this movement of Russian forces is most likely a diversionary manoeuvre to strike and capture the water canal connecting Crimea to the Dnieper River.
“And then, it will become a springboard for further capture of the Black Sea coast.”
He added, “The Russians do not need a decisive attack on the Donbas now.
“The Donbas is needed to continue destabilization in the region and to inhibit Ukraine’s integration with the West.
“The goal of the Russian Federation is to keep the situation in the region in a state of chaos.”
The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told NBC that hs has “real concerns” over Russian troops and ballistic missiles on the Ukraine border.
The US have warned Putin that there will be serious “consequences” if Moscow acts “recklessly, or aggressively” to the Ukraine.
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