Ukraine: Russian forces deploy on the border 0:32
(CNN) --
After months of a military buildup and political brinkmanship on the Ukraine border, Russia has announced military action in Donbas, threatening to destabilize Europe and draw in the United States.
US President Joe Biden issued a statement on Russia's "unprovoked and unwarranted attack on Ukraine."
Russia has been bolstering its military position on the Ukrainian border since last year, amassing tens of thousands of troops, equipment and artillery at the country's gates.
US intelligence officials had warned that Russian aggression might be imminent, and the invasion finally came on Thursday.
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Earlier, Moscow has repeatedly denied planning an attack and insisted NATO support for Ukraine constitutes a growing threat on Russia's western flank.
Given the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, how do you see the confrontation of forces?
There is a great asymmetry between the Ukrainian Army and the Russian Army.
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"This is not the dilapidated Russian military that it had just after the Cold War," says analyst Jeffrey Edmonds of the National Security Council.
"It's a very mobile, fairly modern, well-trained Army with a very healthy air force, large ground forces, a lot of artillery control, small ships with a lot of capability for ground-attack missions."
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Edmonds says that since the Cold War, the Russian military has focused heavily on long-range attack systems.
The Russians have increased their military presence in Crimea since 2014 with revamped air bases, additional naval assets in the Black Sea, including diesel submarines and small corvettes.
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Each of these platforms has a long-range strike capability, Edmonds says, and that's one of the real big differences in the Russian military.
Any aircraft carrying out attacks from the Russian mainland could also have attacks coming from the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian military is far behind.
They have new air defense systems, some "stingers" (surface-to-air missiles).
Through NATO, the allies have given anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapon systems to the Ukrainians.
Both sides have ground forces.
Both have Russian-made air forces.
On the Russian side they are larger and more modernized than the Ukrainian ones.
Russia has an extensive rail network and practices moving these troops on a regular basis.
With information from Matthew Chance and Laura Smith-Spark
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