KYIV, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Russian forces attacked oil and gas facilities in Ukraine, causing huge explosions, officials said on Sunday, as Western allies prepared new sanctions, including banning major Russian banks of the main global payment system.

Ukrainian forces were holding back Russian troops advancing towards the capital, Kiev, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as the biggest assault on a European state since World War II entered its fourth day.

Russian missiles have found their mark, including a strike that set fire to an oil terminal in Vasylkiv, southwest of Kiev, the city’s mayor said. The explosions sent huge flames and black smoke into the night sky, online posts showed.

There was also heavy fighting for Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, in the northeast, where Russian troops blew up a gas pipeline, a Ukrainian state agency said. The gas explosion sent a mushroom cloud into the darkness.

“The enemy wants to destroy everything,” Vasylkiv Mayor Natalia Balasinovich said.

Russian troops then entered Kharkiv, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said on Telegram. Videos posted by him and a state agency showed several military vehicles moving down a street and, separately, a burning tank.

Russian-backed separatists in the eastern province of Lugansk said a Ukrainian missile blew up an oil terminal in the town of Rovenky.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a special military operation on Thursday, ignoring weeks of Western warnings and saying ‘neo-Nazis’ in power in Ukraine were threatening Russia’s security – a charge that Kiev and Western governments call it baseless propaganda.

Reuters witnesses in Kyiv reported occasional explosions and gunfire in the city on Saturday night, but it’s unclear where it came from.

“We resisted and successfully repelled enemy attacks. The fighting continues,” Zelenskiy said in a video message from the streets of Kiev posted on his social media.

A US defense official said Ukrainian forces were putting up “very determined resistance” to Russia’s air, land and sea advance, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing west, obstructing the major highways and railways.

The United States and its European partners have said they will also impose restrictions on Russia’s central bank to limit its ability to support the ruble and fund Putin’s war effort.

“We are determined to continue to impose costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies,” said a statement from the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Great Britain and the European Commission. Read more

BAD FOR BUSINESS

After initially hesitating such a move largely due to concerns about the impact on their economies, the allies said they were committed to “ensuring that certain Russian banks are removed from the messaging system SWIFT”.

They did not name which banks would be expelled, but an EU diplomat said around 70% of the Russian banking market would be affected. Read more

The decision – which France’s finance minister had called a “financial nuclear weapon” because of the damage it would inflict on the Russian economy – is a blow to Russian trade and makes it harder for its companies to do business.

SWIFT, a secure messaging network that facilitates fast cross-border payments, said it was preparing to implement the measures.

Sanctions on Russia’s central bank could limit Putin’s use of its more than $630 billion in international reserves, widely seen as protecting Russia from some economic harm.

Google banned Russian state media RT and other channels from receiving money for ads on their websites, apps and YouTube videos, as Facebook did.

‘DETERMINED RESISTANCE’

The Kremlin said its troops were again advancing “in all directions” after Putin ordered a pause on Friday. The Ukrainian government said there was no break.

Particularly in northern Ukraine, Russian forces “were frustrated by what they saw as very determined resistance,” the US official said, without providing evidence.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser said around 3,500 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured. Western officials said intelligence showed Russia was suffering higher losses than expected.

Russia has not released casualty figures and it has been impossible to verify the tolls or the precise picture on the ground.

At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, were killed and 1,115 people injured, Interfax said citing Ukraine’s health ministry.

Interfax later quoted the Donetsk regional administration in eastern Ukraine as saying 17 civilians had been killed and 73 injured by Russian shelling. Moscow says it takes care to avoid civilian sites.

Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, gained independence from Moscow in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union and wants to join NATO and the EU, goals that Russia opposes.

Putin has said he must eliminate what he calls a serious threat to his country from his smaller neighbor, accusing him of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine – something Kiev and its allies Westerners dismiss it as a lie.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said more than 150,000 Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Romania.

US President Joe Biden has approved the release of up to $350 million worth of weapons from US stockpiles, while Germany, in a shift from its longstanding policy of not exporting weapons to areas of war, said it would send anti-tank weapons and surface weapons. air missiles. Read more

Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Aleksandar Vasovic and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Alan Charlish in Medyka, Poland; Fedja Grulovic in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania; and Reuters offices; Written by Robert Birsel; Editing by William Mallard

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

With the exception of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, Latin America has turned its back on Russia on the invasion of ukrainebut Moscow can keep an ace up its sleeve and surprise with a “symbolic” provocation in the region to challenge United States.

Lately, even as the drums of war beat in Ukraine, Russia has been on a frenzy diplomatic deployment in Latin Americaarea of ​​influence of the United States, in search of allies.

Last week, the Russian President, Vladimir Poutine, received his counterpart Brazilian, Jair Bolsonaroin Moscow, where he had previously met the Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, who even proposed to his country to be a “gateway to Latin America”.

(Due to the public interest in the events between Russia and Ukraine, all of our coverage of this invasion and related actions will be freely available to all EL TIEMPO readers)

(Also read: Ukraine reports increased radiation at Chernobyl after Russians arrive)

But as soon as the tanks arrived in Ukraine on Thursday, both rejected the use of armed force, as have most countries in the region.

Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, isn’t surprised. “The trade relationship with Russia is very limited and the risk of aligning with it is not worth it,” he told AFP.

Putin has three allies in the region – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – who have positioned themselves by his side more than anything “for ideological and transactional interests”, he underlines. Christopher Sabatini, researcher at the Chatham House think tank.

On the very day of the start of the invasion of Ukraine, an official Russian delegation, led by the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Viacheslav Volodin, arrived in Nicaragua to meet the President Daniel Ortegawho a week earlier had discussed economic and military issues with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.

‘Barking dog, little biter’

Russia, which a month ago threatened military deployment in Cuba and Venezuelaseeks to strengthen “his friendships to show that he is not isolated internationally and complicate the strategic position of the United States by projecting a threat in the region”, he explains. Evan Ellis, Professor of Latin American Studies at the Institute for Strategic Studies at the US Army War College.

that he Kremlin doing “something symbolic is very likely” because he’s said it many times, Ellis says. But “a barking dog, not very biting”, nevertheless specifies the expert, who opts for “something improvised, in order to project a threat, more than substantial or well planned”.

“A certain kind of military provocation or the signing of an agreement to show its ability to project itself militarily in the region,” he explains.

The bloody military offensive in Ukraine has imposed a battery of sanctions on Russia to inflict economic damage “both immediate and long-term”, in the words of US President Joe Biden.

(You might be interested in: Fierce street battles in Kiev, under assault by Russian troops)

With an economy under sanctions severely affecting its oil exports and financial system, “Russia is unlikely to have the resources or the logistical capacity to maintain a significant military presence” in the Americas for long, Ellis said.

China on the prowl

In recent years, Latin America has become politically fragmented, which means that “relations not only with Russia, but also with Chinabe more diverse,” says Sabatini. And the new war “will put these new relations to the test”.

The United States, whose relations with Russia and China are at their lowest points, is balancing itself to strengthen ties in the region while fighting corruption in certain countries, notably in Central America, from which waves of immigrants fleeing misery and they seek a better future.

And the rise in wheat prices, which have reached records not seen since 2008, and in oil prices following the war in Ukraine will be particularly sensitive in these developing countries. Central America and the Caribbean.

“For them, the shortage will likely mean a rise in critical import prices and the risk of rising popular discontent,” Sabatini warns.

(Also: Analysis of how this tension between Russia and Ukraine was reached)

Russia will depend more economically on China, which has long-term goals in Latin America, “like replacing the United States as the main economic partner,” Shifter says.

In this war, Beijing “will maintain a fairly neutral position and examine what its rivals are doing”, he adds.

“He will closely monitor developments in this crisis to take advantage of any US weakness to expand his own influence in the region, which needs a lot of economic support.”

AFP

Western leaders launched a volley of condemnations and threatened retaliation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered the entry of troops into the country and asked the army in Kiev to lay down their arms in what many fear will be the worst European conflict since the Second World War.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that if military action leads to “all-out war”, it will be difficult to predict the number of dead and displaced.

US President Joe Biden has accused Putin of launching a “premeditated war that will result in catastrophic loss of life and human suffering”.

NATO has convened an emergency meeting of its top decision-making body, its leader Jens Stoltenberg denouncing “Russia’s reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which puts countless civilian lives at risk”.

“In these dark hours, our thoughts are with Ukraine and the innocent women, men and children who face this unprovoked attack and fear for their lives,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, said Putin had “chose a path of bloodshed and destruction in launching this unprovoked attack on Ukraine”, adding: “The UK and our allies will respond decisive way”.

“It’s a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “The Russian attack on Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law. Germany condemns this irresponsible act by President Putin in the strongest terms.

Zhang Jun, the Chinese envoy to the UN, said the “door to a peaceful solution” had not yet closed and that all parties should exercise restraint.

Ireland, which sits on the UN Security Council, condemned the Russian invasion and demanded strong action from the West.

“Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. May God help them, ” tweeted Simon Coveney, Minister of Foreign Affairs. “Make no mistake, this is a shocking and murderous act of aggression against a sovereign and peaceful state. The EU and the world must react strongly.

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would rule within hours on the request for recognition of two regions in eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists. as independents – a move that could give Moscow a reason to openly send in troops. Read more

Separately, Moscow said Ukrainian military saboteurs tried to enter Russian territory in armed vehicles, killing five, a charge dismissed as “fake news” by Kiev.

The developments fit a pattern repeatedly predicted by Western governments, who accuse Russia of preparing to fabricate a pretext to invade Ukraine by blaming Kiev for the attacks and relying on calls for help from the separatist proxies.

Washington says Russia has now amassed a force of 169,000 to 190,000 troops in the region, including pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Russia denies any plan of attack against its neighbor, which broke with Moscow rule with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But it has threatened unspecified ‘military-technical’ action unless ‘she receives sweeping security guarantees, including the promise that Ukraine never will. join NATO.

European financial markets slumped on signs of heightened confrontation, after briefly advancing on glimmers of hope that a summit could offer a way out of Europe’s biggest military crisis in decades. The price of oil – Russia’s main export – rose, while Russian stocks and the ruble plunged.

In a televised meeting of his Security Council, which normally meets behind closed doors, Putin reiterated Russia’s demands, insisting it was not enough for the West to say Ukraine was not wasn’t ready to join NATO just yet.

He also said he would make a decision “today” on the request made hours earlier by the leaders of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, which broke away from Kyiv’s control in 2014. read more

Shelling has intensified since last week along a long front line between rebels and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. Rebels abruptly began transporting tens of thousands of civilians to Russia on Friday, accusing Kiev of planning an attack, which Ukraine denies as propaganda.

Ukraine and the West view the rebels as proxies for Russia and have warned for weeks that Moscow could use them to build a war case. Washington says it is absurd to suggest that it would be Kiev that would choose to step up now, with Russian troops massed on its border.

THE “WORST CASE SCENARIO” OCCURS

The televised meeting of the Security Council in Moscow allowed Putin and his top advisers to present their case.

Dmitry Medvedev, vice president of the Security Council, told the meeting that it was “obvious” that Ukraine did not need the two regions and that a majority of Russians would support their independence. Russia already offers passports to residents of the two regions and Medvedev said there are now 800,000 Russian citizens there.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared to raise the stakes even further by claiming that Ukraine – which renounced nuclear weapons after gaining independence from the Soviet Union – had greater ‘nuclear potential’ than Iran. or North Korea.

After talks in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Western countries were preparing for a “worst-case scenario”. Airlines Lufthansa, KLM and Air France have all canceled flights to Kyiv. Read more

Hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron held out hope for a diplomatic solution, saying Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden had agreed in principle to meet.

Putin said Macron told him Washington had changed its stance on Russia’s security demands, without specifying how.

The White House said Biden agreed to the meeting “in principle,” but only “if an invasion did not occur.”

Washington, which leads the NATO alliance, has flatly rejected the idea of ​​excluding Ukraine for good or reversing NATO’s eastward expansion of the past three decades, but has proposed talks on weapons deployments and other security issues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a call or meeting between Putin and Biden could be arranged at any time, but there were no concrete plans for a summit yet.

Macron’s office and the White House said details would be ironed out by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later this week.

Lavrov confirmed he planned to meet Blinken in Geneva on Thursday, and said there had been progress in security talks with the West. Blinken said any meeting would be canceled if Russia invaded.

“NOT WITHOUT US”

Ukraine said it must be included in any decision to resolve the crisis and had seen warnings online that hackers were preparing to launch cyberattacks on government agencies, banks and the military Tuesday.

“No one can solve our problem without us,” senior security official Oleksiy Danilov said during a briefing.

The Russian military said a group of saboteurs crossed the Ukrainian border near the Russian city of Rostov on Monday morning, followed by two armored vehicles that came to evacuate them. He said five members of these forces were killed when Russian forces pushed them back. Read more

Ukraine said the report was fake news and that no Ukrainian forces were present in the Rostov region.

Western countries say they are preparing sanctions that would hit Russian businesses and individuals. People familiar with the matter said that could include banning US financial institutions from processing transactions for Russian banks. Read more

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the European Union package would include halting certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which is awaiting German and European regulatory approval.

Ukraine called for the immediate imposition of sanctions, saying it would be too late to wait for an invasion. But the United States and Europe have said they will not act before an invasion because the threat of sanctions should act as a deterrent.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would only call an extraordinary meeting to agree sanctions “when the time comes”.

Reporting by Reuters Writing by Kevin Liffey Editing by Peter Graff and Frank Jack Daniel

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Dymtro Hurin, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, was a pacifist until Friday when he signed up for weapons training. “I’ve decided the time has come,” he said over coffee at a swanky cafe in central Kiev, where tables were still crowded with customers taking a break and young workers at computers. laptops. “I need to know how to shoot. It’s a useful skill.

Ukraine’s capital is balancing between normality and horror after a warning from US President Joe Biden that it could be directly targeted in a ‘catastrophic’ Russian invasion. Hurin is one of millions trying to decide what to do if war comes to their doorstep.

Some headed west towards the border with Poland, and a few left the country. But most stay at home, by choice or by compulsion, preparing for war and wondering whether to fight. More than a third of adult Ukrainians say they would like to join an armed resistance, if Russian troops enter their country, a recent poll found.

At the Veteran Brownie cafe in Kiev this weekend, owner Roman Nabozhniak is offering free coffee to anyone signed up for a new Territorial Volunteer Army.

“Come after practice, warm up, recharge, smile,” he wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of a cappuccino and a skydiver patch. The government says thousands of volunteers have been recruited since the beginning of the year.

He himself was not at the cafe because he is about to be recalled, six years after laying down his arms.

“My responsibility is to prepare for every scenario and then wait for something to happen,” he said over salted caramel cake and coffee that wouldn’t be out of place in Hackney or Brooklyn. “I have told my staff that your safety is your priority. If serious fights break out, take care of yourself, not business.

“I couldn’t imagine myself discussing such topics five or six years ago and being so calm, because it would have seemed like it didn’t belong in this reality. Now, everything is to be expected. »

Eastern Ukraine has been living with the daily toll of war for eight years, after Russian-backed separatists carved out territory along the border with Russia in 2014 and troops from Moscow took control of Crimea.

Violence there has continued in sporadic outbursts since, albeit across a frontline largely frozen since 2016. But hundreds of miles away in Kyiv, businesses and bars, shops and factories were springing up, making it the heart of a young democracy’s struggle to escape the shadows. of its powerful neighbour.

“The reason why Russia is invading us is not the language, the economy or the protection of Russian speakers. It is because they know that a free, democratic and economically prosperous Ukraine is a dangerous model for the Russian people. It shows them that there are other possibilities,” Hurin said.

“The irony is that (President Vladimir) Putin lost Ukraine to Russia. Ten years ago there was a big debate about what kind of country we should be, close to Russia or in the west. Since 2014, support for NATO membership has risen from 18% to over 60% today.”

On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he believed Russia had decided to launch a “catastrophic” war, although he also added that last-minute diplomacy could still offer some hope. Tensions have risen since Moscow began mustering tens of thousands of troops along Ukraine’s borders last year. The West responded with increasingly urgent warnings that Putin was considering an invasion and began shipping arms to Ukraine and troops to neighboring countries, including Poland.

Western leaders had put forward February 16 as the date for a possible invasion. So in the central Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia, 21-year-old Oleana and her friends planned to spend the evening together, just in case. “It seemed like we were prepared for anything, but everyone still had extreme levels of anxiety, so we decided to have an ‘invasion party,'” she said over the phone. watched a comedy, opened a bottle of wine and tried to laugh and chat.

“After 2am rang and we realized nothing was going to happen, we just celebrated another peaceful night and everyone went home. At this point, there is nothing we can do about the situation. We can only change our attitude towards it.

Ivona Kostyna, CEO of Veterans Hub, which supports demobilized fighters, says she is grateful for the Western decision to publicize potential Russian invasion plans and practical support in the form of military supplies, although she wishes that it happened earlier.

“Of course we’re encouraged by the international support, but it’s hard for veterans to understand why he wasn’t there before (when needed),” she said. “For eight years we knew we were at war, but it seemed the world hadn’t noticed. Now everyone uses the same language.

She fears the country’s 460,000 veterans, many of whom have taken years to recover from the front lines, will face “the pressure and distress” of escalating tensions, and that many may be recalled.

That would leave his organization short-staffed as demand for their services skyrockets because so many of his 68-member squad are veterans.

No one in Ukraine has any illusions that the West will fight with Ukrainian forces, but many are grateful for the tough stance taken by Biden, Boris Johnson and other Western leaders, including Frenchman Emmanuel Macron, who shuttled to Moscow and Kiev as part of a tender. to repel the war.

“We have a joke that the president who did the most to create modern Ukraine was Putin,” said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, another member of parliament.

“He’s not fighting against Ukraine, he’s fighting against Western values ​​and the way of life, so the closer we have to our Western partners, the better.”

The Ukraine that Putin hates is the cosmopolitan city where activists are trying to shape a different future, and where independent journalists are rooting out corruption. In its kiosks, where people gather for their morning coffee, and its speakeasy where mixologists serve up the latest trends, people are just trying to get on with their lives.

But the roads are reducing traffic as people stay home or slip away to stay with family and friends further west, reunite with relatives in rural areas or leave the country altogether. Some employers have even helped their entire staff fly overseas.

Alina Viatkina, who spent nearly a year on the front lines aged 19, now works in a mental health support team. She canceled a trip to the United States this week, which had been planned for more than two years, because she felt she could not leave her family, including her parents and a nephew, in Kiev without her.

She is grateful for Western support, saying, “I’m looking at the flight radar and I see all the weapons and all the equipment coming in and I know it’s very expensive for other countries to send them.”

Yet after years of trying to escape the shadows of combat, she is terrified that her efforts will be wiped out in an instant.

So last Wednesday, she and her boyfriend went to dinner at an expensive restaurant. “We thought if Russia comes, why not?” she says. “I was trying so hard to come back from the war (mentally) and now it’s not even that I’m going back to the war. The war comes to me.

Additional reports by Irina Gorlach

Washington
CNN
—

Several American and Western government officials told CNN that the United States has information that Russia has compiled lists of current political figures that it will target for deportation in the event that it invades Ukraine and overthrows the current government. in Kyiv.

Sources close to intelligence say the target lists are part of Russian planning to replace the current administration in Kyiv with a more pro-Russian government, bolstering an earlier UK government disclosure identifying pro-Moscow figures as the Russia planned to install.

The most likely outcome for the politicians and public figures Moscow has targeted for ousting if Kiev falls, the sources say, is jail or assassination.

“We will see what kinds of choices these people will have, but many of them will be imprisoned or killed,” a source close to intelligence said. “I think for the most part it will depend on the cooperation of these people when the time comes and the circumstances in which they are captured or taken away.”

“If it’s in public” – in front of cameras – “it will be different, very different, from someone they corner in the middle of nowhere,” the person added.

CNN has not seen the underlying intelligence intercepts or documents that name the targets or alleged collaborators and their supposed positions in a pro-Russian administration.

And for now, the threat remains contingent on an invasion, even though Russia has amassed between 169,000 and 190,000 troops in and around Ukraine, including Russian-led forces in breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. ‘Ukraine.

US officials have continued to intensify warnings that Russia is ready to launch an invasion of Ukraine in the coming days – including a full-scale march on Kiev – but they warn they do not believe the Russian president Vladimir Putin issued the order yet. Putin’s exact plans remain stubbornly difficult to determine. Western intelligence officials are watching closely for signs that Russia has prepared a friendly government-in-waiting as a key indicator of its intentions.

“As we have seen in the past, we expect Russia to try to force cooperation through intimidation and repression,” another US official said. “These acts, which in past Russian operations have included targeted killings, abductions/enforced disappearances, detentions and the use of torture, would likely target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile. in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ people.

CNN has contacted the Ukrainian government for comment.

Foreign Police reported for the first time on US intelligence details of Russian planning.

The revelation of the intelligence comes as the Biden administration has pursued a deliberate strategy of releasing as much intelligence as possible about what it knows about Russian planning on the Ukrainian border — even though it has refused to provide evidence of his claims, citing the need to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods.

Russia’s goal in the event of an invasion, the source close to the intelligence said, would be to establish a friendly collaborating government which it could designate internationally as the legitimate government of Ukraine. And there are plenty of options to choose from, including politicians with dual nationality, pro-Moscow politicians who fled to Russia after the 2014 democratic revolution, and friendly politicians who already hold seats in Ukraine’s parliament. .

“They’re going to establish a collaborative local government very quickly,” the source said. “And they’ve identified the people who need to leave and who they want to replace them with.”

At the end of January, the British government accused Russia of seeking to replace the current Ukrainian government with a list of pro-Moscow politicians. According to the UK Foreign Office, these pro-Russian figures included former Ukrainian lawmaker Yevheniy Murayev – the leader of a small pro-Russian party that currently holds no seats in the Ukrainian parliament – ​​and other Ukrainian politicians who allegedly links with the Russian intelligence services. .

Yet even though intelligence revealing Russian military movements on the border has been unambiguous — and largely public — Western officials still don’t know precisely what Putin’s goals and intentions are. In part, Russia has opposed Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership and demanded legally binding assurances from the alliance that it will not be allowed to join – an assurance that the NATO and the United States said they would not give. But Russia has also demanded a limit on the deployment of troops and weapons to NATO’s eastern flank, and officials increasingly believe that Putin hopes to force a broader change in the region’s security architecture. .

“Every indication we have is that they are ready to enter Ukraine, to attack Ukraine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

Broadly speaking, current and former intelligence officials say Putin wants to ensure a pro-Russian Ukraine. There are several ways to achieve this goal without an all-out invasion: he may try to use cyberattacks, the lingering specter of military action and other gray area tactics to destabilize the Ukrainian government from afar .

But Biden administration officials have in recent days begun to warn that the more drastic option — an attack on Ukraine’s capital — is likely.

“Russian tanks and troops will advance towards key targets that have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in an address to the UN Security Council. “We believe those targets include the capital of Russia – the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people.”

Biden administration officials have also stepped up warnings that Moscow could deploy a false pretense to justify an invasion of Ukraine at any time, citing an increase in Russian misrepresentations in recent days.

Blinken laid out what he described as Russia’s plan to “fabricate a pretext for its attack”.

“We don’t know exactly what form this will take,” Blinken said. “It could be a so-called ‘terrorist’ bombing inside Russia, the fabricated discovery of a mass grave, a staged drone strike on civilians or of a fake – if not a real – chemical weapons attack.”

“Then the attack is scheduled to begin,” he said.

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn the attention of his American counterpart Joe Biden to the fact that the West is doing nothing to ensure that Kiev implements the Minsk agreements, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Saturday. following a phone call between the two leaders.

According to him, Putin “described in detail the destructive policy of the Ukrainian authorities aimed at sabotaging the Minsk agreements”, which Kiev has been pursuing for years. Putin also “stressed that Western countries were failing to exert the necessary pressure on Kiev to meet its obligations,” the Kremlin aide said.

“Our president pointed out that it is dangerous to militarize Ukraine and pump it with advanced weapons, which Western countries are doing, encouraging the Ukrainian army to organize provocations against Donbass and Crimea,” he said. noted Ushakov. “Given Ukraine’s doctrine, which openly aims to bring Crimea back by force, its potential NATO membership is fraught with consequences, including a direct military stalemate between Russia and the alliance, not least because that the United States considers Article 5 of the Washington Treaty sacred. Our president talked a lot about that during the conversation today,” the Kremlin aide said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine learned that Wednesday “would be the day of the attack,” according to a Facebook update to the nation.

The update comes after comments he made over the weekend downplaying warnings from the United States and other countries that Russian forces had amassed more than 130,000 troops outside the borders of Ukraine. Zelenskyy said he had yet to see convincing evidence, even as the United States warned on Sunday that more Russian troops were approaching Ukraine’s borders.

President Joe Biden spoke with Zelenskyy on Sunday, reaffirming the United States’ commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and saying that the United States “would respond quickly and decisively, with our allies and partners, to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine,” according to the White House.

Zelenskyy told Biden that US support would help Ukraine prevent panic among its people, and asked Biden for concrete guarantees of Ukraine’s security, saying European security is impossible without the security of Ukraine, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Write to [email protected]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold further crisis talks with world leaders in a bid to bring Russia back ‘from the brink’ of war with Ukraine.

It comes as Downing Street warns a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine could come ‘at any moment’.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said: “The crisis on the Ukrainian border has reached a critical stage. All the information we have suggests that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine at any time. This would have disastrous consequences for Ukraine and Russia.

“There is still a window of opportunity for de-escalation and diplomacy, and the Prime Minister will continue to work tirelessly alongside our allies to bring Russia back from the brink.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine has demanded to meet Russian officials within 48 hours after Moscow “failed to provide an explanation of its military activities on the border”.

Tweeting today, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, said: “Therefore, we are taking the next step. We demand a meeting with Russia and all participating states within 48 hours to discuss its reinforcement and redeployment along our border and in temporarily occupied Crimea.