President Joe Biden has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if the Kremlin attacks Ukraine, Russia’s former Soviet neighbor, he will face unprecedented and punishing economic consequences.
The enhanced military presence is similar to Russia’s strategy before the illegal annexation of Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, in 2014, which sparked international outrage and led to sanctions against Moscow.
Pro-Russian rebels are accused of attacking a town near the border by Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken in talks with the UN to make an imperative appeal against an invasion, Daily Mail reported.
For months, the United States and its Western allies have watched as Kremlin forces steadily increased along Ukraine’s border with Russia and Belarus.
During an unexpected statement on Thursday to the United Nations Security Council, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russia to quickly de-escalate tensions on Ukraine’s border and engage in conversation and diplomacy.
Blinken, who had planned to travel to Munich with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier in the day, instead went to New York at the invitation of US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that there was information on the ground that indicates that Russia is preparing for an invasion.
A Russian official denied before the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Moscow was planning an attack on Ukraine, echoing messages from the Kremlin’s highest echelons for months.
During his speech, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin stated charges of a growing Russian invasion by the US and its allies are “baseless.” He stated that Russia did not intend to attack Ukraine and that people should resist to “play to the cameras.”
According to NBC News, President Joe Biden cautioned that the risk of Russia invading Ukraine is “very high,” telling reporters that an invasion might occur within “the next several days.”
Outside the White House, Biden also claimed the US had grounds to believe Russia is attempting a “false flag” operation, in which it would blame a provocative action on its rivals as a pretext for an invasion.
Biden reiterated that he still believes the problem can be resolved diplomatically.
The Russian government responded to US suggestions for security guarantees over Ukraine on Thursday, saying that the demands to withdraw troops from specified places on Russian territory are unacceptable and will damage the possibilities for serious accords.
According to official media, Moscow also demanded that the West should cease sending weapons into Ukraine and Western soldiers, bases, and military activities be withdrawn from nations that were once part of the Soviet Union.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told PA Media on Thursday that the attack on a kindergarten in Eastern Ukraine in was a “false flag operation” that was designed to disgrace the people of the country.
