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British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace warned this Wednesday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is still possible, despite Moscow’s announcement of troop withdrawals.
In an interview with Sky News in Brussels, where he attended a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Wallace said there was no evidence of Russian withdrawal, adding that the deployment of heavy weapons and field hospitals point to an invasion. on a large scale.
“We have not seen any evidence of a Kremlin withdrawal,” he said. “In fact, we have seen the constant accumulation of things like field hospitals and the deployment of strategic weapons systems like Iskander missiles.”he said.
“We will judge them for their actions and if we build confidence to try and mitigate this incident, we must make sure that we do not gather troops at the same time, as this is what we see. . “Until we see the right de-escalation, we have to be careful.”
Wallace said Moscow’s actions were intended to force a change in Kiev’s orientation toward the West, as well as to force NATO to accept Russian security proposals that would not accept Ukraine as a member and not expand further east.
According to him, despite the Kremlin claims that it does not want to invade Ukraine and that it has partially withdrawn its forces, Ukraine remains under siege.
“From the Ukrainian point of view, they are quite surrounded by a very large force of ready troops. I think if that continues, they have not taken their foot off the gas. “Readiness is one of the first signs you get about how serious a country is.”said Wallace.
“Judge with your own eyes the extent of Russia’s deployment on Ukraine’s borders and indeed all the press conferences held by President Putin.”he added.
Russia announced it had completed military exercises in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it annexed in 2014, and was withdrawing troops.
The announcement came a day after Russia announced that some of its soldiers stationed near the Ukrainian border were leaving for their bases. But a large-scale Russian-Belarusian military exercise will last until February 20.
Other leaders, including US President Joe Biden and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, remain skeptical, saying an invasion still seems likely.
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