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The United States has asked Russia to explain recent “provocations” on Ukraine’s border, the US State Department said on Monday, after reported Russian troop enlargement and movements drew international concern last week, Al Jazeera reported. The department said reports on Russian movements bordering eastern Ukraine, which have become the latest point of tension in icy US-Russian relations less than three months after US President Joe Biden took office, were “credible”.

Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US would be concerned by any effort by Moscow to intimidate Ukraine whether it occurred on Russian territory or within Ukraine.

The department said it is ready to engage on the situation.“We’ve asked Russia for an explanation of these provocations,” Price said. “But more importantly, what we have signaled with our Ukrainian partners is a message of reassurance.”

The comments followed a telephone call on Friday in which Biden reassured his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of “unwavering support” in Ukraine’s confrontation with Russia-backed separatists holding parts of the eastern Donbas region.