KYIV — U.S. President Joe Biden warned Thursday that Russia could still invade Ukraine within days and Russia expelled the No. 2 diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, as tensions flared anew in the worst East-West standoff in decades.
Concerns escalated in the West over what exactly Russia is doing with its troops around Ukraine — including an estimated 60% of the overall Russian ground forces — and about President Vladimir Putin’s overall intentions. It would open with cyberattacks, along with missiles and bombs across Ukraine, he said. Painting the U.S. picture further, Blinken described the entry of Russian troops, advancing on Kyiv, a city of nearly 3 million, and other “key targets that have already been identified and mapped out.”
Speaking at the White House, he said Washington saw no signs of a Russian withdrawal, and said the threat of invasion remains “very high” because Russia has moved more troops toward the border with Ukraine instead of pulling them out. Russia denies it is plotting an invasion but says it’s free to deploy troops wherever necessary to counter NATO threats. It wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe — demands the allies have flatly rejected.NATO’s defense ministers discussed ways to bolster defenses in Eastern Europe, while EU leaders huddled over how to punish Russia if it invades.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the West has seen “an increase of troops over the last 48 hours, up to 7,000.” That squared with what a U.S. administration official said a day earlier. NATO, meanwhile, has moved troops and military equipment into Eastern Europe in a display of resolve of meant to deter any Russian aggression and underline its intent to defend NATO’s eastern members, in the unlikely event that they too become a target.