Ukraine on Sunday pushed back at “apocalyptic predictions” over a potential Russian invasion, after US officials sounded dire warnings that Moscow had stepped up its preparations for a major incursion.
US officials said the Kremlin had assembled 110,000 troops along the border with its pro-Western neighbour but intelligence assessments have not determined whether President Vladimir Putin has actually decided to invade.
They assess that Putin wants all options at his disposal, from a limited campaign in the pro-Russian Donbas region of Ukraine to a full-scale invasion.
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Kyiv — backed up by some European allies — has consistently sought to play down fears of an imminent attack as it tries to prevent further harm to its struggling economy.
“Today, Ukraine has a strong army, unprecedented international support and the faith of Ukrainians in their country. It is the enemy who should fear us.”
– European diplomatic push –
French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Moscow on Monday and Kyiv on Tuesday seeking to de-escalate the crisis and push forward a stalled peace plan for the festering conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
“The leaders discussed ongoing diplomatic and deterrence efforts in response to Russia’s continued military build-up on Ukraine’s borders, and affirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House said in a statement.
“We will not obtain unilateral gestures” from Russia “but it is essential to avoid a deterioration of the situation before building mechanisms and reciprocal gestures of trust”, he said.
The following week Scholz will visit the region for talks with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
They estimated such an attack would leave 25,000 to 50,000 civilians dead, along with 5,000 to 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 3,000 to 10,000 Russian ones.
Biden has reacted to the buildup by dispatching some 3,000 American forces to bolster NATO’s eastern flank, with a new batch of US soldiers arriving in Poland on Sunday.
Moscow has issued demands for NATO to guarantee that Ukraine will not enter the alliance and to withdraw forces from member states in eastern Europe.
“We have sent forces to Europe to defend NATO territory,” he said.
US intelligence has concluded that Russia is continuing to muster a major military force on its border with Ukraine.
By Friday, there were 80 battalions and 14 more were en route, US officials said.
Russia has also announced what it calls joint military manoeuvres with Belarus, where it has sent several battalions to the north of Kyiv.
In other deployments, Russia has positioned fighter planes near Ukraine, as well as bombers, missile batteries and anti-aircraft batteries, US officials said.
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