In spite of videos of troops leaving, Russia may be increasing their military presence at the Ukrainian border.

Recently, reports and videos have been released by the Russian government showing that their military personnel and vehicles were departing from the Ukrainian border. The Russian government has stated that the military training exercises that the troops were conducting had concluded, and they were returning to their permanent posts.

LATEST: Sec. Blinken says Russia has not pulled back forces from Ukraine, despite indicating that it would: “They remain massed in a very threatening way along Ukraine’s borders." https://t.co/YTvsVhXSzE

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 16, 2022

However, representatives from both the United States and NATO have contested Russia’s claims, saying that rather than decreasing their military presence at the Ukrainian border as the footage shows, they actually continue to increase it.

“There’s what Russia says. And then there’s what Russia does. And we haven’t seen any pullback of its forces,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC. “We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border.”

Despite saying it’s pulling some troops from the border, a Russian invasion of Ukraine remains 'distinctly possible', the US believes.

We asked an analyst to explain the latest military positioning ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/dZcXLEALSm

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 16, 2022

“So far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary it appears that Russia continues their military buildup,” said NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference.

“We have not seen any withdrawal of Russian forces. And of course, that contradicts the message of diplomatic efforts,” Stoltenberg added. “What we see is that they have increased the number of troops and more troops are on their way. So, so far, no de-escalation.”