The president of United States, Joe Biden“Convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, he said Friday, but added that there is still room to choose between “war” and “diplomacy.”
“I am convinced that he has made the decision. We have reason to believe that,” Biden said in remarks from the White Housenoting that an attack could come in the next “week” or “days”.
“Until he does, diplomacy is always a possibility,” he pointed out, however, announcing that the head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinkenwill meet on Thursday the 24th with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Europe.
40% of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border are in attack position, according to the United States
More than 40% of the Russian troops on the border with Ukraine is in a position to attack and Moscow has launched a destabilization campaign, a US defense official said on Friday.
Washington, which estimates that Russia mobilized more than 150,000 military personnel around Ukrainehas seen significant movement since Wednesday, said the official, who asked not to be identified.
“Between 40 and 50% are in attack position. They have held tactical meetings in the last 48 hours,” the official told reporters.
The assembly points are close to the border where military units are concentrated to attack.
Moscow he amassed 125 tactical formations at the gates of Ukraine against 60 in normal times. In February they reached 80.
Increased clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in donbasin southeastern Ukraine, as well as fiery proclamations from officers in Russia and Donbas show that “the campaign of destabilization has begun,” according to the official.
The United States has insisted for weeks that Russia is preparing a pretext to invade its pro-Western neighbor. Russia systematically denies this and demands guarantees that Ukraine will not be included in the NATO.
In 2014 Russia invaded and occupied the region of crimea in Ukraine with the support of like-minded separatists.
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