The Ukrainian President has warned that Russia’s latest military drill shows it is preparing its forces for war in Eastern Europe.

Petro Poroshenko said that Moscow’s latest military exercise, which is due to be held in Belarus next week with up to 100,000 troops expected to mobilise on the EUs eastern borders, demonstrated its increasing ambitions in the region, reports The Independent.

Poroshenko, a former oligarch who came to power following mass protests in 2013, said these latest war games show that Russia has no intention of handing back Crimea and or withdrawing from the separatist eastern regions, local news website Ukrainska Pravada.

In an address to the Ukrainian parliament he said: ‘There are no signs at the moment that Moscow would be ready to pull back from Donbass or leave Crimea.

‘In fact, there is more and more evidence for its preparations for an offensive war of continental proportions.’

‘Under the guise of strategic command exercises, we are not ruling out the creation of a new assault group of Russian troops to strike Ukrainian territory,’ he said. ‘Some 2,000 transporters with soldiers and equipment have approached and are approaching our borders. There is no guarantee that after the end of these manoeuvres all this will return to Russia.’

Other former Soviet states such as Georgia and Lithuania have also raised concerns about the drill.

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said the drill could be used as a front to station Russian troops in Belarus as a precursor to annexation, Newsweek reported.