US Says Everything Points to Russia ‘On the Verge’ of Invading Ukraine

United States assured this Sunday that everything indicates that Russia is “on the verge” of invading Ukraine, in light of the hostilities in the east of Ukraine and the decision of the Russian and Belarusian governments to extend their military exercises.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, stated that the events of this weekend indicate that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, launched his “manual” for an attack on Ukraine, although he insisted that there is still time to choose through diplomatic channels.

“Everything we are seeing indicates that this is completely serious, that they are about to invade,” said the head of US diplomacy in an interview with the CNN television network.

Blinken assured that he is more concerned about the possibility of an invasion now that Russia and Belarus have decided to extend the inspection time of the forces that have participated in their military exercises beyond this Sunday, when they were scheduled to end.

“(That) means that the manual that I detailed before the UN Security Council last week has been launched, by which Russia would try to create a series of provocations to justify an aggression against Ukraine,” he stressed.

“As we have described, all the steps leading up to the actual invasion seem to be taking place,” he added.

The Foreign Minister stressed that US President Joe Biden is willing to talk to his Russian counterpart “at any time and in any format to prevent a war.”

“Until the tanks are rolling and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade President Putin from doing this,” he added.

Blinken added that he himself maintains his intention to meet next week in Europe with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “unless Russia invades” Ukraine before then.

As for the threat of sanctions against Moscow, Blinken expressed his disagreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called on the West on Saturday to impose such punishment on Russia now, and not after an invasion.

“The purpose of the sanctions is to try to dissuade Russia from going to war,” argued the foreign minister, opining that if they are imposed now, “that dissuasive element is exhausted”, while if a list of possible restrictions, “Russia would be allowed to plan to counteract them”.