U.K.'s Johnson to Visit Ukraine Region as Military Tension Builds

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ramp up efforts to diffuse the crisis in Ukraine and will make a visit to the region next week as military tensions continue to rise.

Johnson will also hold a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and tell him that Russia needs to "engage diplomatically" as the country has amassed troops along its border with Ukraine.

The prime minister's trip comes as the Pentagon warned on Friday that Russia had now deployed more than 100,000 troops and had enough forces to invade the whole of Ukraine.

There are no details yet of where exactly Johnson will visit or when it would happen.

"The Prime Minister is determined to accelerate diplomatic efforts and ramp up deterrence to avoid bloodshed in Europe," a spokesperson for 10 Downing Street said in a statement.

"He will reiterate the need for Russia to step back and engage diplomatically when he speaks to President Putin this week," the statement said.

The prime minister's decision to visit the region comes at a time when he is under fire domestically over a number of alleged parties at Downing Street and other government departments that may have breached COVID-19 restrictions.

London's Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the matter and a highly anticipated report on the gatherings from senior civil servant Sue Gray has not yet been published, due in part to the police probe.

Tensions have continued to build in the region with the Moscow-based news agency Avia.pro reporting on Saturday that an unknown military aircraft had "staged a provocation" near the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

The news agency said that the aircraft had apparently stayed outside Russia's borders. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 and the government of Ukraine has never renounced its claim to the territory.

During a press conference on Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that Russia had deployed more than 100,000 troops with a "consistent and steady pace."

"As we look at that number of troops and that amount of hardware that's in the border region, it far and away exceeds what we typically see them do for exercise so it's very concerning," Austin said.

The defense secretary said that while it was not believed that President Putin had made a decision about using his forces against Ukraine "he clearly now has that capability."

"This is something that we're taking very seriously, both as a strong partner of Ukraine and as one of 30 members of NATO, who are unified in opposition to Russia's attempts to undermine those core values and threaten the peace and security in Europe," Austin said.