The United States government says Russia's invasion of Ukraine could start
at any time now. It's just that Washington can't predict a certain day.
"A major military action could be initiated by Russia in Ukraine at any time
now," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on
Sunday.
"The way they build strength, the way they maneuver on the spot, makes it
very likely that there will be major military action soon," he said, quoted
on Monday (14/2/2022).
Previously, on Friday last week, the American media; Politico, accusing
Russian President Putin of having decided to attack Ukraine, said the
offensive was expected to begin as early as February 16, 2022.
Washington used the report to call on all Americans to leave the Eastern
European country immediately.
Sullivan stressed that the US would not allow Russia to launch a "surprise"
attack on Ukraine, pledging to continue sharing intelligence and warning the
world to prepare for Moscow under the pretext of responding to its invasion.
"We are ready to continue working on diplomacy, but we are also ready to
respond unitedly and decisively with our allies and partners if Russia
continues," he said.
In a separate interview with Fox News on Sunday, Pentagon spokesman John
Kirby said he could not confirm Friday's report by Politico that Russia
would begin an invasion of Ukraine on February 16.
"I'm not in a position to confirm those reports," Kirby said.
"We want to be careful about speaking publicly about intelligence and
sources and methods and that sort of thing. What I can tell you is we
believe a major military action could happen at any moment now," he said,
apparently reading from the same talking points. with Sullivan prior to his
television appearance.
"And again, these assessments are coming from a variety of sources, and not
exclusively within intelligence, but also from what we see before our eyes;
more than 100,000 of these troops are now continuously stationed on the
Ukrainian border," Kirby said.
"I think the intelligence mosaic we're looking at - not talking specifically
but uh, but you know we have good intelligence sources and they're telling
us that things are kind of building right now for some kind of crescendo
opportunity for Putin," the Pentagon spokesman added.
The officials' comments followed President Joe Biden's warning Saturday in a
telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow
would pay a "quick and heavy price" if it went ahead with its planned
invasion of Ukraine.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov rejected the US invasion claim and accused
Washington of artificially inflating hysteria.
Also on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova
accused the US government of colluding with the media to stoke hysteria over
the situation in Ukraine, warning that the US might seek provocations to
stoke conflict in the region.
