- Report: President Putin orders troops taking part in military exercises within Russia back to base
- Ukrainian border officials say Russian troops are still concentrated near Ukraine's border
- At least 700 Ukrainian soldiers and officers defect to Russia, says Russian state media
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Kiev for talks on financial help for Ukraine
Simferopol, Ukraine (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops taking part in military exercises near the Ukrainian border to return to their bases, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Tuesday, citing presidential spokesman citing Dmitry Peskov.
However, that withdrawal, was disputed by Ukrainian border officials.
Sergey Astahov, assistant to the head of the Ukraine Security Border Service told CNN that Russian troops and vehicles remain near Ukraine's eastern border with Russia.
Russian troops and military vehicles are still concentrated near five border cities in Ukraine, including Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk, he said.
He said the Russian troops cannot be seen by Ukrainian security services but that local people closer to the border report their continued presence.
There's also no sign of any withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine's Crimea region -- despite a stream of rebukes and the threat of sanctions from world leaders Monday.
Report: Ukrainian forces defect
At least 700 Ukrainian soldiers and officers defected Tuesday, announcing their readiness to defend the population of Crimea, RIA Novosti said, citing a spokesman for the newly installed Crimean authority.
But Vladislav Seleznyov, head of the Ukranian Defense Ministry press office in Crimea, told CNN it had been largely quiet in Crimea overnight.
A group of pro-Russian Cossacks in civilian dress attempted to attack the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol, Seleznyov said, but Ukrainian forces repelled the attack and no shots were fired.
On Monday evening, Russian troops also moved into the Russian side of a narrow sea channel dividing Russia and Crimea, opposite the Ukrainian city of Kerch, he said.
A reported ultimatum for Ukrainian forces to surrender to the Russian forces early Tuesday passed without incident.
Russia ordered the surprise military exercises on Ukraine's doorstep Wednesday. Russia said the exercises were intended to check its troops' combat readiness.
But the timing and location of the move prompted speculation about Russia's true motivation.
On Tuesday, Peskov said that Putin had ordered the troops' return after he was briefed on the success of the exercises. Russia insisted that the exercises were always meant to end on March 3.
In total, 150,000 troops, more than 90 planes, 120 helicopters, and 880 tanks participated, according to the state-run Itar-Tass news agency.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Kiev Tuesday, where he is expected to discuss an economic assistance package for Ukraine, which is in dire financial straits.
'Chaos and anarchy'
At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Monday to discuss the unfolding crisis, Ukraine's envoy asked for help, saying that Russia had used planes, boats and helicopters to flood the Crimean Peninsula with 16,000 troops in the past week.
"So far, Ukrainian armed forces have exercised restraint and refrained from active resistance to the aggression, but they are in full operational readiness," Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said.
As diplomats at the meeting asked Russia to withdraw its troops and called for mediation to end the crisis, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted his country's aims were preserving democracy, protecting millions of Russians in Ukraine and stopping radical extremists.
He said ousted President Viktor Yanukovych remains Ukraine's elected leader and has asked Russia to send troops.
The Russian envoy read a letter from Yanukovych at the U.N. meeting, describing Ukraine as a country "on the brink of civil war," plagued by "chaos and anarchy."
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Russia's claims about the situation in Ukraine are untrue and warned that sending military forces "could be devastating."
Yanukovych, she said, abandoned his post last month and was then voted out of office by Ukraine's democratically elected parliament.
"Russian military action is not a human rights protection mission," Power said. "It is a violation of international law."
CNN's Matthew Chance and journalist Azad Safarov in Kiev contributed to this report.
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