A US private company said that satellite images taken on Friday showed a number of large deployments of ground forces and about 150 transport helicopters in southern Belarus, about 30 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
The images showed a large spread of more than 90 helicopters parked over a distance of more than 5 miles on a road near the town of Shuzhniki in Belarus.
The pictures showed a large deployment of ground forces with several hundred vehicles in a few fields.
Maxar Technologies has been investigating the build-up of Russian forces for weeks.
Russian missiles fell on Kiev today, Friday, and families took refuge in shelters, and the authorities asked residents to prepare Molotov cocktails to defend the Ukrainian capital, while Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Ukrainian army to seize power and make peace.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces destroyed 211 military sites, 6 combat aircraft, one helicopter, and 5 drones of the Ukrainian army.
Our forces destroyed 211 military sites, including 17 command points and communications centers, 19 S-300 anti-aircraft systems and 39 radar stations for Ukrainian forces,” the ministry said in a statement.
We shot down 6 combat aircraft, a helicopter, and 5 drones, and destroyed 67 tanks and armored vehicles, 16 rocket launchers, and 87 military vehicles.”
We have confiscated a large number of weapons delivered by Western countries to Ukraine over the past few months, including American (Javelin) missiles and British (NLAW) anti-tank missiles,” the statement added.
The forces of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics continue - with Russian coverage - their advance on the positions of the Ukrainian forces, as they penetrated 21 kilometers deep and captured the Trekizbinka region.
And, “Donetsk forces penetrated the defenses of the nationalist battalions and penetrated 25 kilometers deep, reaching the Volnovakh region.”