The United States on Tuesday warned that Russia could attack Ukraine at any point. Calling it an 'extremely dangerous situation', White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Russia amassing 100000 of its troops along the Ukrainian border might lead to a full-blown military crisis.
“Our view is that this is an extremely dangerous situation. We are now at a stage where Russia could, at any point, launch an attack in Ukraine,” Psaki told media persons.
The White House press secretary further warned that Russia will face severe repercussions for its misadventure in Ukraine. This comes on the back of Russia moving its troops in Belarus for the purpose of joint military exercises with the Belarusian troops. The U.S., however, believes that the crisis can be resolved through diplomacy and has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take steps to de-escalate the tensions. Anthony Blinken, U.S. secretary of state, is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in Geneva this week after speaking over the phone on Wednesday. On a European diplomatic tour, Blinken will first land in Ukraine to reiterate America’s support of the former’s territorial integrity. He will then visit Germany to chart out a collective response (diplomatic/economic/military) to counter Russian aggression.
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As per recent media reports, Russian troops have been moved to Belarus under the banner of joint military exercises to be held from 10-20th February, but questions have been raised over its scheduling. Russian intentions to place troops in Belarus might be part of its manoeuvres to launch an invasion from the north of Ukraine, a Hindustan Times (HT) report quotes a state department official as saying. The upcoming amendments to Belarusian constitution might provide a legal backing of permanent Russian troop placement in the country, the official further says. Russia is said to be laying groundwork for its planned “invasion of Ukraine” and that the invasion may happen before mid-February, another official told HT.
On January 12, de-escalation talks between Russia and NATO in Brussels failed to materialise into concrete steps towards peace in the region. On Tuesday, the Office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put out a claim that Russia might initiate an invasion under the guise of protecting ethnic Russians living in eastern Ukrainian provinces.
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