Reznikov made it clear that Ukraine would not take any provocative action, but was ready to respond if Russia launched an attack.
Ukraine and its NATO allies have warned of Russian troop movements near its border this year, raising fears that a simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine could turn into open war.
On Thursday evening, a senior US military official said that the United States is following indications and warnings about Russian military activity near Ukraine that are enough to cause “a lot of concern”, and that Russian rhetoric appears to be increasing in intensity.
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to speculate on what options Washington might consider in the event of a Russian invasion, but Milley, in some of his most extensive statements on the crisis, stressed the importance of Ukraine’s sovereignty to Washington and NATO.
“Important national security interests of the United States and NATO member states are at stake here if the Russians take the explicit step of aggressive military action in an independent country since 1991,” Milley said during a flight from Seoul to Washington.
Milley declined to publicly acknowledge his estimate of the number of Russian forces near Ukraine, but noted that his concerns go beyond the initial numbers of Russian forces.
It is noteworthy that Russia denied the rumors that it was preparing to launch an attack on its southern neighbor, and defended its right to deploy forces on its territory as it saw fit.
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