As it happened: Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? Your questions answered

Summary

As diplomats scramble to avert a possible new war in Europe, our expert correspondents are here to answer your questions
Russia has an estimated 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine but denies it is preparing for an invasion
Earlier today, top US diplomat Antony Blinken warned his Russian counterpart of a "severe" response if that were to happen
Vladimir Putin accuses Western forces of meddling in its neighbours and does not want Ukraine to join the Nato military alliance
Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's correspondent in Moscow, has lived in Russia since the end of the Cold War
Diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams has reported from conflict zones all over the world and recently returned from Ukraine

Live Reporting

Edited by Jasmine Taylor-Coleman

Why are the superpowers interested in Ukraine?published at 14:43 Greenwich Mean Time 21 January 2022
from Ernest Onyameamah, 32, in Ghana
Paul Adams
BBC International Affairs Correspondent
For Russia, it's all about recreating something that was lost with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989: a Russian sphere of influence.
People also ignore how humiliated some Russians felt by the end of the Soviet empire and the West's eager expansion into eastern Europe. It left deep scars.
For America, it's about defending the principle that countries have the right to choose their own destiny, alliances and future paths.
Not just Ukraine, but all those former members of the old Warsaw Pact (a Soviet-led military alliance during the Cold War) who turned to Nato in the 1990s.
It's also about trying, as much as it can, to limit what the West sees as Vladimir Putin's malign influence.
Image source, EPA
Introducing our correspondentspublished at 14:39 Greenwich Mean Time 21 January 2022
That's some of the basics covered so let's bring in our correspondents now to answer some of your big questions.
Paul Adams is the BBC's international affairs correspondent and has just returned from Ukraine. He has reported from conflict zones and negotiating rooms from across the world for more than three decades.
Steve Rosenberg is our Moscow correspondent and expert on all things Russia. He has lived and worked there since the end of the Cold War and has reported across the breadth of the country for the BBC.
Thanks to both of them for joining us.
Handshakes but urgent diplomacy continuespublished at 14:34 Greenwich Mean Time 21 January 2022
Image source, EPA
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have met in Geneva to try and defuse tensions over Ukraine.
Both men held separate news conferences afterwards.
Lavrov said the talks were constructive and that more dialogue would follow. He again insisted that Russia - despite massing troops at the Ukrainian border - had no plans to invade.
Blinken said the talks were “frank and substantive” and that he looked forward to “finding a way forward through diplomacy and dialogue”. But he warned the West would “impose massive consequences should Russia choose the path of confrontation and conflict”.
Isn't there a war in Ukraine already?published at 14:27 Greenwich Mean Time 21 January 2022
Image source, Reuters
If you're sitting there thinking, hang on, I've definitely heard about a war in Ukraine in recent years... you're right, there is one. Though it’s largely a frozen conflict.
When Ukrainians deposed their pro-Russian president in early 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimean peninsula and backed Russian-backed rebels who captured large swathes of the eastern Donbas region.
The rebels have fought the Ukrainian military ever since in a conflict that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.
Russia's military intervention in 2014 sparked a major rift with Western nations, prompting the European Union and the US to impose sanctions on Russia.
The current situation builds on these existing tensions.
Where is Ukraine and what’s the background to all this?published at 14:20 Greenwich Mean Time 21 January 2022
Ukraine is a large country in eastern Europe and shares borders with both the European Union and Russia.
It is a former Soviet republic and has deep social and cultural ties with Russia, and Russian is widely spoken there.
Russia has long resisted Ukraine's move towards European institutions, and sees Ukraine's membership in the Nato military alliance as a direct threat to its security.
Moscow denies it's planning any invasion, but it has seized Ukrainian territory before and currently has an estimated 100,000 troops deployed near Ukraine's borders.
Welcome to our Q&A on the Ukraine-Russia crisispublished at 14:16 Greenwich Mean Time 21 January 2022
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the escalating tensions between Ukraine and its Western allies and Russia.
Despite massing troops near Ukraine's borders, Russia denies it has plans to invade.
But fears are growing that fresh conflict could break out and diplomatic efforts have been ramping up on Friday.
It’s a complex story and so today we have two of our correspondents here to answer your questions.
They are Paul Adams, a veteran BBC diplomatic correspondent who has reported from conflict zones all over the world, and Steve Rosenberg, our correspondent in Moscow and an expert on Russia who has lived there since the end of the Cold War.
If you’ve got something to ask them, please submit a question at the top of this page. We have already received lots of great ones!
If you want to get up to speed on the latest developments - read our main news story.