ALARMING new evidence emerged today of a huge build-up of troops and military hardware on Ukraine’s northern border – within striking distance of the capital Kiev.

Servicemen's families expect them to be involved in a protracted war after beingtold they could be away from home for nine months.

Forces are now in Belarus less than 20 miles from Ukraine's frontier, after a surge in troop and equipment movements in recent days from Russia's far east.

New videos show invasion drills by paratroopers ahead of hastily arranged joint "exercises" with Putin ally Belarus.

And trains carrying rocket launchers, armoured vehicles and communication trucks have been spotted near Belarus towns Gomel and Rechitsa, according to an analysis by DFRLab.

Military police – essential in an invasion – are among the forces moved close to Ukraine, reported another study by Radio Liberty and the Conflict Intelligence Team.

Russia said today the drills are a response to a military build-up in Poland and Lithuania, which border Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “We share the concern of our Belarusian allies about the build-up of Nato’s military presence along the external borders of Belarus..

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“In this regard, Russia and Belarus are forced to respond adequately, including through joint air patrols, regular joint training, exercises, and so on."

Observers see it as a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion which the West now expects to happen imminently. 

The UK warned war could be "days away" and has sent anti-tank missiles – along with instructors – to reinforce Ukraine's defences.

Yesterday the US authorised Nato allies Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia to rush US-made anti-armour rockets to Ukraine to help fend off an invasion.

The Pentagon is also set to send another $200million of weapons, ammo and equipment in the coming days.

President Joe Biden said of Vladimir Putin: "My guess is he will move in. He has to do something."

But he added: “I think he’ll regret having done it.

"That decision is totally a Putin decision. He's making that decision. I suspect it matters which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what he's going to do.”

The massing of forces in Belarus adds to the estimated 100,000 Russian troops already stationed to Ukraine's east and south. 

'CRIMEA PLAYBOOK'

New analyses show that only part of the military hardware and troops are going to the training grounds announced for the exercises. 

“The other part stopped halfway, near Gomel, in an area that is only 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and 90 km (56 miles) from the Kiev region”, said the Radio Liberty report. 

Comments on Russian social media show that “many mothers and wives of servicemen are concerned about the fate of their relatives.

“Dozens of people who write about sending their loved ones to the west do not hide the fact that they fear the start of a war between Russia and Ukraine.”

This is seen as echoing the Russian playbook from 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea and backed pro-Russian rebels in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. 

Social media comments indicated that forces from the far east of Russia were being sent “first to Moscow, then to Ukraine”, said the report.

The girlfriend of a member of the 155th brigade of marines directly told researchers he was being sent “to Ukraine”.

In Gomel a Russian convoy of a BM-27 220mm multiple rocket launcher and 11 9T452 transporter-loader vehicles arrived on Monday from eastern Siberia. 

A later video showed one launcher and transporter “headed directly for the Ukrainian border, just 30 kilometres (19 miles) away. 

“The BM-27 multiple rocket launcher has a maximum firing range of 90km (56 miles).”

The report continued: “Other local reporting  claimed that military equipment headed from Gomel in the direction of Khoyniki, by the Ukrainian border, and 150 km (93 miles) north of Kiev.

“The column appeared to consist primarily of logistical vehicles, such as fuel trucks and other transports. It was followed by a civilian truck and a bus.”

BM-27 launchers were also seen at the railway station in Rechitsa.

Trains seen in western Russia in Smolensk region – seemingly en route to Belarus – appeared to show 16th Radiation, Biological, and Chemical Defence Brigade from Primorsky Krai, having moved some 5,800 miles from its base.

“The information received by Radio Liberty and the Conflict Intelligence Team indicates that in recent months units have been transferred from the Far East to the west (to Russia or Belarus), without which it is difficult to imagine a full-scale military operation: military police, paratroopers, special forces," the report added. 

“These troops also participated in the active phase of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2014-2015.”

'BOGGED DOWN LIKE VIETNAM'

While officially the joint Russia-Belarus drills run from February 10-20, “relatives and friends of the military write that the trip will last 6-to-9 months.”

Meanwhile the Russian Navy today said it was staging massive war games "in all zones of responsibility" throughout January and February involving 140 ships, 60 planes and 10,000 personnel.

It comes after experts warned Russia could blunder into a "new Vietnam" as it gets bogged down in a bloody guerrilla war.

Experts said Putin would aim to reach Kiev as fast as possible and install a Kremlin-friendly government.

But troops would face "kill zones", sabotage and fierce resistance from guerrilla fighters backed by the CIA and US special forces, it was claimed.

Former US assistant Defense Secretary Lawrence Korb said proud Ukrainians are ready to launch a bloody insurgency against occupying Russians.

He said it was “likely that (Russia's) efforts would turn out similarly to the United States experience in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”.

Defence analyst Colonel Richard Kemp told The Sun: “If Russian forces occupy Ukraine, then they need to pay a price for it but that’s not going to come from Nato forces coming in and ejecting them.

“The only option that the Ukrainian people have for defending their sovereignty is that type of warfare. That’s going to cost a lot of lives on both sides.”

In other developments, the French navy was reportedly escorting Russian landing ships towards the English Channel yesterday. 

Three warships from the Baltic Fleet and four from the Northern Fleet are suspected to be bound for the Black Sea, to Ukraine's south. 

Meanwhile Russian state TV has broadcast allegations from a prominent rebel leader in separatist Donetsk region that British instructors are training Ukrainian special forces in sabotage ops aimed at provoking Moscow to send in its forces. 

Eduard Basurin claimed the attacks will target “water pipelines, gas pipelines, power substations, transformers, and later, a terrorist attack on a chemical plant.”

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