This Sunday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby reiterated that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any time, according to statements he made to the network. Fox.
(In context: US warns Russia could invade Ukraine within days)
On the other hand, Pope Francis called on world leaders to invest their best efforts to avoid a major tragedy in Eastern Europe at all costs.
Next, we tell you minute by minute how the tension develops in Ukraine.
(You may be interested in: Ukraine invites you to “remain calm” in the face of the threat of a Russian invasion)
What happened this Sunday with the crisis?The US reiterates its remarks about an invasion of Ukraine
The Russians could attack Ukraine “at any moment”, top US officials repeated on Sundaythe day after a call between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin that gave them “no reason for optimism.”
The phone conversation between the presidents “certainly didn’t show that things were moving in the right direction,” he told Fox Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. “There are no signs that Putin intends to ease tensions,” he added. “We believe that a major military action could take place at any time.”
Harsh statements from Germany
Russia bears “responsibility” for the risk of a war in UkraineGerman President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday at a time of growing fear of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“There is a danger of a military conflict, a war in Eastern Europe and Russia bears the responsibility for that,” Steinmeier said after his five-year re-election to a post that is mostly honorary.
Ukraine promises to keep airspace open
Ukraine vowed on Sunday to keep its airspace open for international travel despite US warnings that Russian troops maneuvering near the border could invade its territory at any time.
“Ukrainian airspace remains open and the state is working to prevent risks to airlines,” the Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Western sanctions do not worry Moscow
Russia “doesn’t give a shit” about possible sanctions from Western countries in case it invades Ukraine, the Russian ambassador to Sweden told a local newspaper.
“Excuse my language, but we don’t give a damn about all your sanctions,” Viktor Tatarintsev told the Aftonbladet daily in an interview published on its website late Saturday.
“We have already had so many sanctions and, in some way, they have had a positive effect on our economy and agriculture,” said the veteran diplomat, who speaks perfect Swedish and has been posted to the Scandinavian country four times.
“We are more self-sufficient and have been able to increase our exports. We don’t have any Italian or Swiss cheeses, but we have learned how to make good Russian cheeses using Italian and Swiss recipes,” he said.
Statements by Pope Francis
Pope Francis on Sunday called on world leaders for “every effort” possible to guarantee peace in Ukraine, amid tensions over the presence of Russian troops on its eastern border.
“The news coming from Ukraine is very worrying. I trust in the intercession of the Virgin Mary” and in “every effort for peace” by political leaders, he said from the window of the Apostolic Palace after praying the Angelus.
And then he prayed for a few moments in silence and encouraged the faithful who were listening to him from St. Peter’s Square to do the same.
The main news of the Ukrainian crisis this Saturday, February 12Biden and Putin discuss the crisis by phone
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, and that of Russia, Vladimir Putin, held a telephone conversation this Saturday at noon to discuss the situation in Ukraine, at a time when the US has asked all its citizens to leave the country and has reduced its diplomatic presence in Kiev. Biden, as reported by the White House, told Putin that attacking Ukraine will have “swift and severe costs.”
Russia, on the other hand, denounced a “rise” in US “hysteria” over Ukraine-related tensions, but said Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden agreed to continue talking to avoid conflict. “The hysteria has reached its peak,” Putin’s diplomatic adviser Yury Ushakov told a news conference.
The phone call between Putin and Biden begins
The telephone call between the leaders of the United States and Russia began this Saturday, according to the news agency Bloomberg.
This is the first direct exchange between the two leaders since the end of December.
Putin’s remarks after meeting with Macron
Putin called accusations that Russia is preparing an invasion of Ukraine “provocative speculation” during a conversation with his French counterpart Macron on Saturday.
“Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron discussed about […] provocative speculation related to an alleged Russian ‘invasion’ of Ukraine, which is accompanied by significant deliveries of modern weapons to that country,” the Russian presidency said in a statement.
Russian Navy expelled a US submarine from its waters in the Pacific
A Russian anti-submarine ship forced a US submarine to leave Russian territorial waters in the Pacific on Saturday. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported in a statement, in full tension between the two countries due to the situation in Ukraine.
The destroyer “Marshal Shaposhnikov” detected the submarine near the Kuril Islands and ordered it to “surface”, without receiving a response, the statement said.
The Russian ship then used “appropriate means” to force the US submarine “to leave Russian territorial waters at full speed,” it added.
Macron’s statements to Putin
French President Emmanuel Macron told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that “a sincere dialogue is not compatible with a military escalation” on Russia’s border with Ukraine, the French presidency reported.
Both Macron and Putin “expressed the will to continue the dialogue” to implement the Minsk agreements on the pro-Russian separatist region of Donbas (eastern Ukraine) and on “security and stability conditions in Europe,” the Elysee Palace specified. , after a telephone conversation of 1 hour and 40 minutes between both leaders.
The United States orders the withdrawal of its troops from Ukraine
The United States ordered the withdrawal “as a precaution” of almost all the soldiers it kept deployed in Ukraine to “reposition them elsewhere in Europe,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced on Saturday.
Meeting between Lavrov and Blinken
This Saturday’s day started with a key call between Blinken and Lavrov.
Moscow accused Washington of wanting to spark a conflict in Ukraine with its accusations of an impending Russian invasion.
In a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, Lavrov stressed that the “propaganda campaign launched by the United States and its allies about a ‘Russian aggression’ is aimed at provoking and emboldening the Kiev authorities” in the conflict of the Donbas region, eastern region of
Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow for eight years.
For his part, Blinken told his Russian counterpart on Saturday that diplomatic channels remained “open” to avoid a conflict in Ukraine, but would require Moscow to “de-escalate.”
The secretary of state “made it clear that a diplomatic path to resolve the crisis remained open, but it would require a de-escalation of Moscow and discussions in good faith.”
They order the evacuation of diplomatic personnel and foreign citizens in Ukraine
The United States on Saturday ordered all its non-essential staff from the Kiev embassy to leave the country due to the threat of a Russian invasion.
“US citizens in Ukraine must be aware of the fact that the government will not be able to evacuate them” in the event of a Russian offensive, which can “start at any time and without notice,” according to the same source on its website.
On Friday, the United States urged its citizens to leave Ukraine as quickly as possible, a call that was later made by other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Japan.
(Read here: The countries that asked their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible)
Ukraine President Says Invasion Warnings ‘Provoke’ Panic
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, considered that the warnings about a Russian invasion in his country “causes panic”.
“As president I have to tell the truth to the population. And the truth is that we have different information. And now the enemies’ best friend is panic in our country. And all this information only helps the panic and does not help us.” “, he said in an appearance in the Jersón region, in the south of the country.
Declarations of Washington raised tensions to the maximum this Saturday after a senior White House official said an attack on Russia is “imminent.”.
Moscow accuses Washington of creating a ‘propaganda campaign’ about an attack in Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States on Saturday of promoting “a propaganda campaign” about the alleged Russian attack on
Ukraine in a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken.
Even on Friday, the Kremlin described the US statements as “hysteria”.
(In other news: Chernobyl fills up with military despite possible radiation risks)
What exactly does Washington say about the attack on Ukraine?
The United States claimed on Friday that Russia can invade Ukraine before the Olympics end on February 20.reviving the specter of a war in Europe, in a dramatic escalation that followed an intense diplomatic phase.
“We continue to see signs of Russian escalation, including the arrival of new forces on the border with Ukraine,” warned the White House adviser for National Security, Jake Sullivan, after a virtual meeting of the US president, Joe Biden, with his main western counterparts.
“An invasion could happen at any time if Vladimir Putin decides to order it,” he added.
The Americans, who shared their intelligence analysis with their allies, outlined a dramatic scenario in the event of a Russian offensive.
It would probably “start with aerial bombardment and missile strikes that could obviously kill civilians,” Sullivan said, explaining that there would also be “a quick assault” on Kiev.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and Efe
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