Satellite images released on Tuesday show a new deployment of more than 100 military vehicles and dozens of troop tents in southern Belarus near the Ukraine border, Reuters reported.

• The images released by US-based company Maxar Technologies, which has been tracking the buildup of Russian forces for weeks, could not be independently verified by Reuters.

The images also showed a new field hospital has been added to a military garrison in western Russia close to the border with Ukraine, Maxar said in a statement.

The new images were published a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two separatist regions in Ukraine as independent and later announced he would deploy “peacekeeping” forces there.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden delivered an address on Russia’s threats against Ukraine in which he announced sanctions against Russian banks and elites.

“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “setting up a rationale to go much further” in his actions against Ukraine.

The President said that he would enact the “first tranche” of sanctions against Russian banks, its sovereign debt, and elites in response to the invasion.

The sanctions will cut Russia off from western financing and trading in US and European markets.

Later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he will no longer meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva this week.

“Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time,” Blinken said.

Meanwhile, the White House said that a possible meeting between Biden and Putin is “certainly” not an option at the moment.

“At this point it certainly is not in the plans,” said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, who added that a de-escalation of conflict with Ukraine would be needed for such a summit.

Source: Arutz Sheva