A huge military convoy of more than 100 military trucks with soldiers was also seen heading towards the Ukrainian border where 190,000 Russian troops are already massed, raising fears Putin is about to stage a land-grab in eastern Ukraine, the report said.

 

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, is closest to the border, and has long been suspected as a possible target in a Russian invasion, according to western analysts.

 

Putin has already moved more than 10,000 Russian troops into Ukraine's breakaway eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after he recognised them as indepedent.

 

Some 6,000 troops were sent to Donetsk, 5,000 to Luhansk and 1,500 to the city of Horlivka, a source with links to Ukrainian intelligence said.

 

While announcing new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday, Biden said it defies logic to think Putin has taken such extensive military preparations, including putting 190,000 Russian troops on the border and moving blood supplies to those areas, for reasons other than invading Ukraine, Daily Mail reported.

 

"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion. You don't need blood unless you're planning to start a war," he declared.

 

Biden also announced he was moving American troops, fighter jets and helicopters to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on NATO's eastern flank as a defensive move and imposing heavy financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs.

 

The UK and EU also responded with sanctions after Russian legislators authorised Putin to use military force outside the country, a move that could pave the way for a wider invasion of Ukraine after he rolled troops into rebel-held areas.