Biden, speaking to reporters at the White House, has warned that the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is “very high” and that he believes that this will happen in the “next several days”.
They have not moved any of their troops out. They’ve moved more troops in…we have reason to believe they are engaged in a false flag operation. Every indication we have is they are prepared to go into Ukraine to attack Ukraine,” Biden said.
When asked if Russia was going through it, Biden responded, “Yes. My sense is that it will happen within the next several days.”
But the US President said there was a diplomatic path still available, and that is why he had asked secretary of state Blinken to go to the UN to make a statement. “He will out what that path is. I laid out a path to Putin as well,” Biden had spoken to Putin on Saturday, but said he had no plans to call him again.In a statement hours later, the Kremlin accused Biden of stoking tension by saying he expected Russia to invade Ukraine within days, RIA news agency reported.
At the UN, Blinken laid out what he said was the indication of a playbook that will include a manufactured provocation – “this can be a violent event, or a real or fake attack” –which will be used to create a justification – “Russia’s leadership will convene an emergency meeting and decide Russians were at peril and need to be protected” – and then stage an attack – “the bombs will drop, communications will be blacked out, cyber attacks will be launched”.
Russia’s intended targets included Kyiv, with its nearly three million people, Blinken added.Specific groups of people” were also planned targets of any Russian invasion, he said. “We are laying it out in great detail with the hope that by sharing what we know with the world, we can influence Russia to avoid the path of war, and choose a different (path) while there’s still time.”
If it seeks peace, Blinken told the UN Security Council, “The Russian government can announce today with no qualification of equivocation or deflection, that Russia will not invade Ukraine” and follow it up with “sending its soldiers, tanks, and planes back and their diplomats to the negotiations”.
Tensions also spiked Thursday along the line that separates Ukrainian forces from Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east, with both sides accusing each other of intensive shelling, news agency Associated Press reported.
