Psaki: Russia may attack Ukraine before mid-February

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that according to the US, Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine between the current dates and mid-February. According to Kommersant, she told reporters about this at a briefing.

She expressed concern that “the Russian government is preparing an invasion.” “We have seen this before, it takes us back to 2014, including sabotage and information operations accusing Ukraine of preparing imminent attacks on Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and Russian military plans to start such activity weeks before a military invasion that could begin between January and mid-February,” Psaki said.

Earlier, CNN, citing an unnamed U.S. official, reported that Russia had allegedly trained a task force to conduct a “false flag operation in eastern Ukraine,” Russian military personnel were allegedly trained in urban combat and the use of explosives. The same dates were called – between mid-January and mid-February.

The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, commenting on these publications, said that such data were not confirmed by anything and were unfounded.

Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov noted that the United States and its NATO allies are not ready to meet Russia halfway on key requirements in matters of security guarantees. Thus, he added, Moscow sees no grounds for holding a new round of negotiations with the United States on security guarantees in the near future.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also noted the disappointing results of negotiations with the United States and NATO and said that “patience has come to an end.”