Russia accused by UK and US of continuing military build-up near Ukraine

The UK and US have accused Russia of continuing its military build-up along the Ukraine border, despite Moscow's claims it has pulled back some of its forces and weapons.

The US says Russia has sent 7,000 more troops to the border zone, while Britain's head of military intelligence said there have been sightings of additional armoured vehicles, helicopters and a field hospital in the area.

Lieutenant General Sir Jim Hockenhull, the UK's Chief of Defence Intelligence, said in a statement late on Wednesday: "Contrary to their claims, Russia continues to build up military capabilities near Ukraine.

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"This includes sightings of additional armoured vehicles, helicopters and a field hospital moving towards Ukraine's borders. Russia has the military mass in place to conduct an invasion of Ukraine."

Meanwhile, a White House senior official, who spoke anonymously, said in addition to the 7,000 extra troops there had been a marked increase in false claims by Russians including reports of unmarked graves of civilians allegedly killed by the Ukrainian armed forces.

NATO also says it has seen no sign of Russia drawing down.

Watch: UK military doubling troop presence in Estonia amid ongoing Russian tesnions.

Britain is doubling its troop presence in Estonia in response to the tensions, with extra personnel and hardware being sent to the Baltic nation, as well as other deployments in Europe.

Moscow has repeatedly denied that it has any intention of attacking Ukraine, despite massing an estimated 130,000 troops along the border.

Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN again dismissed claims from Western politicians surrounding the crisis as "fantasies".

"This is a very ridiculous situation, there has been hysteria, even hype, fanned for several weeks by our Western colleagues," Dmitry Polyanskiy told ITV's Peston programme.

"They convinced each other and the whole world that Russia was about to invade, they were even naming concrete dates. So it happened in their minds, in their heads."

Watch: Russia released footage on Tuesday claiming to show Russian troops and equipment leaving the Ukraine border area – doubts have been raised over whether this is true.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who will visit Ukraine and Poland this week in a renewed show of support for allies, said Britain and its allies must not be "lulled into a false sense of security" by Moscow's claims it was beginning to draw back its forces.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, she said Russia's build-up "shows no signs of slowing".

In a speech in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Ms Truss will say the "path of diplomacy" remains open for Russia over the tensions.