MOSCOW, 18 Feb (GUARDIAN) -- Russia has amassed up to 190,000 troops on the borders with Ukraine, the US warned on Friday, claiming it was “the biggest mobilisation of troops since the second world war” and an increase of more than 90,000 in less than a month.

The estimate including Russian-backed troops inside Ukraine only added to a growing sense of foreboding among western diplomats, as they gathered for a major security conference in Munich, that their efforts to avert war in Europe were doomed and that Vladimir Putin had irrevocably chosen the path of conflict.

News that the Russian-supporting republics of Donetsk and Luhansk had announced a mass evacuation of the region’s residents to Russia and reports of a car bomb in Donetsk close to the separatists’ headquarters added to fears of an impending assault as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned of a strategy of “creating false provocations”.

In Moscow, it was announced that Putin would this weekend oversee a drill of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.

“This is one of the most dangerous moments where provocation and disinformation might turn into escalation,” said German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock. “What is at stake for the people of Ukraine is their right to determine their own future, and, for all of us, what is at stake is nothing less than peace in Europe and whether we are going to defend our rules-based order, even if it comes to a crunch.”