Wlodimir Positioning to Put Russian Military Into Mainland Ukraine

Meanwhile NATO lines up forces in and around Poland

Wlodimir Putin is apparently positioning Russian Military to Invade Mainland Ukraine.

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. and European security agencies estimate Russia has deployed military and militia units totaling more than 30,000 people along its border with eastern Ukraine, according to U.S. and European sources familiar with official reporting.

The current estimates represent what officials on both sides of the Atlantic describe as a continuing influx of Russian forces along the Ukraine frontier, the sources said.

The 30,000 figure represents a significant increase from a figure of 20,000 Russian troops along the border that was widely reported in U.S. and European media last week.

But U.S. and European security sources noted that these estimates are imprecise. Some estimates put current troop levels as high as 35,000 while others still suggest a level of 25,000, the sources said.

However, the sources said that U.S. and European government experts believe that there has been, and continues to be, a steady and noticeable buildup in the total number of Russian forces along the Ukrainian border, though some military units have rotated in or out of the area.

U.S. and European security sources said that the Russian force deployed along the Ukraine border includes regular military including infantry and armored units and some air support.

Also deployed are militia or special forces units comprised of Russian fighters, wearing uniforms lacking insignia or other identifying markings, similar to the first Russian forces to move into Crimea during Russia's recent military takeover there.

U.S. officials said that what Russian President Vladimir Putin actually plans to do with his forces deployed on the Ukraine border is unknown. Some officials say intelligence information available to policymakers regarding what Putin is thinking, and what he is saying to his advisors and military commanders, is fragmentary to non-existent.

But the portents are potentially ominous. "No one's ruling out the possibility of additional Russian military aggression," one U.S. official said.

This follows reports of remarks by Putin that much of Ukraine is really Russia- including Kiev- never-mind that city appearing in the western oriented area of the maps of Ukraine's linguistic and electoral are.

We have reports of demonstrators in eastern Ukraine calling for their areas to succeed and join Russia.  And we have reports of another such territory immediately outside Ukraine's southwestern border with Moldavia, Transdeinester, asking to join Russia.   Looking at a map this would logically have Russian military forces sweep entirely through southern Ukraine, not stopping simply with a land bridge to Crimea.