“The president will make brief remarks about Russia and Ukraine,” the White House said. “He will reiterate that the United States remains open to high-level diplomacy in close cooperation with our Allies, building on the many diplomatic avenues that we and our Allies and partners have offered Russia in recent months. The United States continues to believe in diplomacy and de-escalation are the best way forward, but be prepared for any scenario.”
Russia’s defense ministry said troops from the southern and western military districts — parts of which lie adjacent to Ukraine — had begun returning to their home stations, although the announcement did not specify exactly where those troops were permanently stationed, where they had played sports, or how many of them withdrew.
US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said on Tuesday the US is “watching the situation” following the Kremlin’s announcement, but added that the US “will have to verify” any claim of a possible move in the direction of de-escalation by Russia.
Biden held telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend.
“We can’t predict the day perfectly, but we’ve been saying for a while now that we’re sitting in the window, and an invasion could begin, a major military action could now begin any day by Russia in Ukraine — including this coming week, for the end of the Olympics,” Sullivan told DailyExpertNews’s Jake Tapper in Sunday’s State of the Union.
He added: “The way they’ve built up their armed forces, the way they’ve maneuvered things into place, makes it a clear possibility that major military action will happen very soon. And we’re willing to keep working on it.” diplomacy, but we are also ready to respond in a united and decisive manner with our allies and partners if Russia continues.”
The US and other countries have warned their citizens to leave Ukraine in recent days. And on Monday, the US announced it would temporarily move its embassy in Kiev to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine “because of the dramatic acceleration in Russian troop build-up,” Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said.
“In late 2021 and early 2022, the global information space was confronted with a media campaign unprecedented in its scope and sophistication, aimed at convincing the world community that the Russian Federation is preparing an invasion of the territory of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement. statement published on its website.
While the alliance is defensive in nature, Putin sees his move to Eastern Europe as a direct threat to Russia and his idea that Moscow is entitled to a sphere of influence in the region. Ukraine is not a NATO member, so the US will not send troops to defend it. But Washington also says it shouldn’t be up to Putin to decide the fate of another independent, sovereign democracy.
In fact, Putin is holding Ukraine hostage with a demand to withdraw NATO troops from Eastern Europe, which would amount to a sweeping rewrite of the post-Cold War world that Washington will never accept. But he can see a historic moment when he can open up divisions in the alliance, destroy Ukrainian dreams of joining the West forever, avenge the fall of the Soviet Union and advance his idea of Russian greatness.
This is a groundbreaking story and will be updated.
Ivana Kottasová, Nathan Hodge and Uliana Pavlova of DailyExpertNews contributed to this report.