From New York Times, I'm Michael Obaro.

This is The Daily.

Today, Russia is making preparations for what many fear may be a full-scale invasion of Ukraine,

prompting warnings from the U.S. of serious consequences if it does.

I spoke to my colleague, Moscow Bureau Chief Anton Trianovsky,

about what Vladimir Putin wants from Ukraine,

and just how far he may go to get it.

It's Wednesday, December 8.

The Daily Daily

Anton, describe the scene right now on the border between Ukraine and Russia.

What does it look like? What exactly is happening there?

Well, what you're seeing on the Russian side of the border within 100 to 200 miles away

is that thousands of Russian troops are on the move.

The top military official says intelligence shows nearly 100,000 Russian troops have masked on the border of Ukraine.

The border with Ukraine, and that's prompted fears of an invasion early next year.

We're seeing a lot of social media footage of tanks and other military equipment on the move, on trains.

In some cases, heading west toward the Ukraine border area from as far away as Siberia.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been building for some time in the way.

These satellite images that we're seeing show deployment areas around Ukraine that were empty,

as recently as June, that are now full of military equipment like tanks and armored personnel carriers.

The U.S. called it unusual activity.

And obviously, Russia moves its forces all the time.

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