US President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have reiterated their commitment to diplomacy so as to ease tensions with Russia, as the US national security adviser warned that Moscow was looking to find a “pretext” for the attack.
This comes after President Biden on Sunday made clear that the United States would respond swiftly and decisively, together with its allies and partners, to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s office said the two leaders had discussed potential economic sanctions against Russia should it invade its western neighbour.
Earlier, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CBS News that over the past 10 days, there has been a “dramatic acceleration” in the buildup of Russian forces and that they “could launch a military action, essentially at any time”.
“We are also watching very carefully for the possibility that there is a pretext or a false flag operation to kick off the Russian action in which Russian intelligence services conduct some kind of attack on Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine or on Russian citizens, and then blame it on the Ukrainians,” Sullivan said.
Russia, which has amassed 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, says it’s not planning a military operation but has demanded that Ukraine not be allowed to become a part of the NATO military alliance.
The Kremlin believes NATO expansion in eastern Europe threatens its security.
Source aljazeera