Ukrainian leaders tried to reassure the country that the feared invasion of the Russian neighbor would not be imminent, although they admitted that the threat was real and they hoped to receive a shipment of US military equipment to strengthen their defenses.
Russia has denied planning an attack but has amassed some 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks, prompting the United States and its NATO allies to scramble to prepare for the possibility of war.
Several rounds of high-level negotiations have ended without progress, and tensions have increased this week. NATO said it was reinforcing its deterrent contingents in the Baltic Sea region, while the United States put 8,500 troops on alert for possible deployment to Europe as part of an alliance “response force” if necessary.
The State Department of U.S he ordered the families of American staff at the Kiev embassy to leave the country, noting that non-essential embassy staff could leave. Britain, too, was withdrawing some diplomats and associated staff from its embassy.
However, the Ukrainian authorities have tried to call for calm. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday night that the situation was “under control” and there was “no reason for panic”.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that as of Monday Russian forces had not formed what he described as battle groups, “which would have indicated that tomorrow they would launch an offensive.”
“These are risky situations. They are possible and likely in the future,” Reznikov told Ukrainian broadcaster ICTV on Monday. “But to this day, that threat does not exist.”
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, made similar remarks, saying the movement of Russian troops near the border is “not news.”
“Until today, we do not see any basis for statements about a full offensive on our country,” Danilov said Monday.
Russia has said that Western accusations that it is preparing an invasion are simply a cover for provocations planned by the OTAN. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again accused the United States on Monday of “fostering tensions” over Ukraine, a former Soviet state with which it has been locked in bitter disputes for nearly eight years.
In 2014, following the ouster of a pro-Kremlin president in Ukraine, Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula and supported a separatist insurgency in the country’s industrial heartland in eastern Ukraine. Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels has since claimed some 14,000 lives, and efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict have stalled.
Russia has called on the West to ensure that NATO will never allow Ukraine to join and that the alliance limits other actions such as troop deployment to former Soviet bloc countries. Some of these demands, such as a promise of a permanent veto to Ukraine, are rejected out of hand by NATO, posing an apparently intractable situation that many fear could only end in war.
The US decision to put troops on US alert for deployment to Europe suggests hopes have been dimmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will back down from what the US president himself, Joe Biden, has described as a threat to invade neighboring Ukraine.
A shipment including equipment and ammunition was expected to arrive in Ukraine on Tuesday as part of a $200 million US security aid package.
Other NATO members also made gestures to strengthen the defensive presence in Eastern Europe. Denmark would send a frigate and F-16 planes to Lithuania, Spain would send four fighters to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join NATO naval forces, and France said it was ready to send troops to Romania.
.
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
