[ad_1]
The White House said Friday that Russia could attack Ukraine within a week and possibly within the next two days, and called on the Americans to leave immediately.
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the United States did not know if Russian President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to intervene, but that measures on the ground appeared to have been taken for a speedy incursion. At a press conference at the White House, Mr. Sullivan did not give specific details but said all Americans still in Ukraine should leave within the next 24-48 hours.
He said a Russian intervention could start with an air strike that would make evacuation difficult. Moscow, for its part, sharpened its response to Western diplomacy, saying the responses sent this week by the EU and NATO to its security demands showed “disrespect”. Satellite images released by a US private company show new Russian military deployments near Ukraine.
In his strongest warning urging Americans in Ukraine to leave immediately, President Joe Biden said he would not send troops to rescue American citizens in the event of a Russian attack. “Events can precipitate rapidly,” he said in an interview with NBC television on Thursday. President Biden had a telephone conversation on Friday to discuss the crisis with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Poland and Romania, as well as the leaders of NATO and the EU.
Mr Biden met with his national security advisers at the White House overnight, said a source familiar with the meeting. U.S. officials believe the crisis is reaching a critical juncture, given that Moscow is sharpening its rhetoric, sending six warships to the Black Sea as well as additional military equipment to Belarus, the source told Reuters.
“A potential invasion could start at any time, and to be clear it could also happen during the Olympics,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The Beijing Games end on February 20. Russia’s chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, and US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley had a telephone conversation on Friday, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a statement from Russia’s defense ministry. The agency did not provide details about the meeting.
As the situation becomes more alarming, more and more countries, including Japan and the Netherlands, on Friday warned their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. Moscow has denied plans to invade Ukraine, but says it could take unspecified “military-technical” action if its demands are not met, including Ukraine’s non-NATO membership and the withdrawal of forces from Eastern Europe. . The West has said that these demands are not negotiable.
3 thousand more American troops within a few days in Poland
The United States will send 3,000 additional troops to Poland in the coming days, a senior Pentagon official told the media on Friday. “At the request of the President, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin today ordered the deployment of 3,000 soldiers of the 82nd Division to Poland,” the official said.
They are in addition to the 8,500 troops already on standby to be deployed in Europe if needed and the 3,000 troops the US administration is deploying in Poland and Romania./VOA
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
