北约卫星图像显示俄在乌克兰边境屯兵四万

NATO has released satellite photographs showing what it says are 40,000 Russian troops massed near the Ukraine border, along with tanks, aircraft and other hardware said to be awaiting orders from Moscow.

The imagery, released to news outlets Wednesday, follows repeated Russian assurances that the deployment is no cause for international alarm. 

That satellite intelligence comes as the government in Kyiv seeks to defuse tensions in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian protesters seized control of government buildings earlier this week and issued demands for a vote on joining the Russian Federation.

However, several surveys, including a poll released Wednesday, have found that residents of the key eastern city of Donetsk overwhelmingly oppose any move to join Russia. That survey, conducted March 26-29 in conjunction with Donetsk National University, showed less than 27 percent of city residents supporting the building seizures, and only 4 percent wanting to separate from Ukraine.

A poll conducted by the Gallup organization in conjunction with the International Republican Institute found just 4 percent of respondents favoring secession.  That survey was released April 5.
 
The White House says President Barack Obama conferred with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone Thursday, and that both leaders again called on Moscow to pull back its troops from the border regions.