In the midst of rising tensions over Ukraine, Russia dispatched two long-range nuclear-capable bombers on patrol over its ally Belarus on Saturday.
During a four-hour flight, the two Tu-22M3 bombers conducted contact with Belarusian air force and air defence forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The flight followed a series of similar patrols over Belarus, which shares a northern border with Ukraine.
The expedition was launched as the Kremlin dispatched troops from Siberia and the Far East to Belarus for large-scale joint exercises. The deployment bolstered Russia's military buildup near Ukraine, heightening Western worries of an invasion.
Russia has rejected plans to attack Ukraine, but has urged the US and its partners to offer a binding promise that they will not accept Ukraine into NATO, deploy offensive weaponry, or scale back alliance deployments in Eastern Europe. The demands were rejected by both Washington and NATO.
The West has demanded that Russia withdraw an estimated 100,000 troops from territories near Ukraine, but the Kremlin has replied by saying that troops will be stationed wherever they are needed on Russian soil.
The Russian military has initiated a series of war simulations stretching from the Arctic to the Black Sea as tensions over Ukraine have risen.
The deployment of Russian troops in Belarus sparked fears in the West that Moscow may launch an attack on Ukraine from the north.
The Belarusian border is only 75 kilometres (50 miles) away from Kiev, Ukraine's capital.
Russia has undertaken a number of joint manoeuvres with Belarus in recent months, and it has dispatched its nuclear-capable long-range bombers to patrol the skies over Belarus, which borders NATO members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Belarus' authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has pressed for stronger defence ties with Moscow and even offered to host Russian nuclear weapons amid harsh Western sanctions sparked by his assault on domestic protesters.
As worries of a Russian invasion grew, Ukrainian officials held a series of drills for residents to prepare for an attack.
Ilya Goncharov, a Kyiv resident, said after participating in drills on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, "I am here to learn how to defend myself, defend my families, and also understand how to act in a situation."
"I'm glad I came to learn the fundamentals of self-defense and first aid."
In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, US Vice President Joe Biden has ordered 2,000 US troops to Poland and Germany, as well as relocating 1,000 more troops from Germany to Romania, as a display of the US commitment to NATO's eastern flank. Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated earlier this week that Moscow is open to more talks with the United States and its NATO partners.
On Monday and Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Moscow and Kyiv as part of high-level diplomacy to defuse tensions, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit to Kyiv and Moscow on February 14-15.
Putin attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Friday, despite tensions with the West, and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to deepen the two countries' cooperation.
Putin and Xi issued a joint statement in which they expressed their opposition to any NATO expansion while stressing that Taiwan is a part of China.
Putin and Xi declared that Moscow-Beijing relations are "superior to Cold War-era political and military alliances" and that their friendship "knows no bounds."
Also read : Biden predicts Russia will invade Ukraine, warns Putin
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