In March and April 2021, Russian president 

Vladimir Putin (1)………. to begin massing thousands of

personnel and equipment near its border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the
largest mobilization since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. This (2)……… and generated concerns
over a potential invasion. Satellite imagery showed movements of armour, missiles, and heavy
weaponry. The troops were partially withdrawn by June 2021, but the crisis was renewed in October
and November 2021, when over 100,000 (3)……… around Ukraine on three sides by
December. Despite the (4)…………., Russian officials from November 2021 to 20 February 2022
repeatedly denied that Russia had (5)………
The crisis stemmed from(6)……… Russo-Ukrainian War and the War in Donbas, which began in
2014. In December 2021, Russia advanced two draft treaties that contained requests for what it
referred to as "security guarantees", including (7)……… that Ukraine would not join the (8)
………. (NATO) as well as a reduction in NATO troops and materiel stationed in Eastern Europe,
and (9)……….. if those demands were not met in full. NATO has rejected these requests, and the
United States warned Russia of "swift and severe" economic sanctions should it further invade
Ukraine. The crisis was (10)……… as one of the most intense in Europe since the Cold War.
1. ordered the Russian military
2. precipitated an international crisis

3. Russian troops were massed

4. Russian military build-ups

5. plans to invade Ukraine.

6. the protracted and ongoing 

7. a legally binding promise

8. North Atlantic Treaty Organization

9. threatened unspecified military response

10. described by many commentators