A member of the Ukrainian State Border Guard stands guard at the border between Ukraine and Belarus on Saturday.
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Chris McGrath / Getty Images
A member of the Ukrainian State Border Guard stands guard at the border between Ukraine and Belarus on Saturday.
Chris McGrath / Getty Images
President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday that the US would “react quickly and decisively” to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, while US officials continued to warn that an invasion Russia can happen any day.
Tensions remain sky-high over the situation along the Ukraine border, where the US says the buildup of Russian forces and equipment along the east, north and south of the country has now reached a point where it could begin. an attack this week.
On Sunday, Biden and Zelenskyy spoke by phone for about 50 minutes and “agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence,” according to a White House statement on the call.
The conversation after Biden’s call on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putinin which the two men talked for over an hour.
Later, a senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the conversation with Putin as “professional and substantive,” but added that “no fundamental change” had been made. taken in response to stressful actions that took place in the past month.
Western leaders fear diplomatic opportunities may close
According to Macron’s office, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has played a key role in efforts to find a diplomatic way out of the crisis, also spoke by phone with Putin on Saturday. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Kyiv and Moscow next week.
The calls and visits come amid concerns that the door to finding a diplomatic way out of the crisis may be closing as Russia readies its forces for a possible invasion.
“An invasion, a major military action could start by Russia in Ukraine on any day. That includes next week, before the end of the Olympics,” said Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser. Country of the White House, said in a Sunday interview with CNN. The Olympics, which are being held in Beijing, end on February 20.
U.S. officials have cited an increase in military buildup, along with troop movements closer to the border with Ukraine, as reasons for growing concerns. About a dozen countries have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine, including the US, UK and Germany.
“We have good intelligence sources and they are telling us that things are building into some sort of transcendent opportunity for Putin,” said John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. . in an interview with Fox News Sunday. “We recognize that the time component here seems to be shrinking and that worries us.”
Russian forces now surround Ukraine on three sides
Russia has stationed more than 100,000 troops around the Ukrainian border, of which about 30,000 are stationed in Belarus in northern Ukraine, where the border is only about a 100-mile drive from the Ukrainian capital. To the south, the Russian navy is conducting major exercises in the Black Sea. And to its east, many tanks and military equipment have been headed to Russia’s borders in recent days.
Russia has repeatedly referred to fears of an invasion as “hysteria” by the West.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s adviser, said Saturday’s Biden-Putin call was “businesslike”, but he echoed Putin’s previous statements that the US had ignored Russia’s key demands – including the prohibition of Ukraine from joining NATO and the withdrawal of NATO troops. its forces from the countries of Eastern Europe.
Russia also criticizes what the West calls the “militarization” of Ukraine. The United States and its allies have sent military aid worth billions of dollars to Ukraine since 2014, including Javelin anti-tank missiles and anti-mortar radar.
Russian officials have sought to plot a scenario in which such weapons encourage Ukraine to forcibly retake territories in the eastern Donbas region that have been held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. That violence could spark a larger conflict, Russia suggests.
Meanwhile, US officials have warned of the possibility of Russia’s “fake flag” operation to create a false pretext for a Russian military invasion.
Despite the increasingly urgent warnings of US officials, officials and analysts continue to warn that a Russian invasion is far from certain.
“I think Moscow sees this as a long process. And we may be moving from phase one to phase two, and possibly phase three, but they’re not necessarily a full-blown invasion of Russia. Ukraine,” said Harun Yilmaz. a Ukraine expert and academic editor at Routledge, in an interview with NPR.
In Ukraine, Zelenskyy expressed mixed gratitude for American support with sometimes disappointment at Washington’s dire warnings. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Western claims of an impending invasion are in Moscow’s hands.
“Our enemy’s best friend is panicking in our country,” Zelenskyy said.
