The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken warned this Friday that Russia could invade Ukraine “at any moment”.even during the Olympic Games”, which will be held until the 20th in Beijing.
(In context: Russia and Ukraine carry out military exercises at a time of maximum tension)
Blinken, who spoke these words in Melbourne after meeting with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia, within the framework of the defense alliance of the Quad, stressed that all American citizens who are on Ukrainian soil “should leave now”, at the risk of an armed conflict breaking out.
(Also: Chernobyl is filled with military despite possible radiation risks)
“There are signs of a Russian escalation. We are in a window in which the invasion can begin at any time,” said the head of US diplomacy, insisting that Washington and allied countries are “strongly” committed to diplomacy and dialogue.
However, Blinken warned that they are also working on deterrence and defense measures and that Moscow will face “massive consequences” if it decides to invade Ukraineincluding economic sanctions, export limitations and an increase in the military capabilities of Ukraine and NATO.
Likewise, the senior Washington official stressed the importance of supporting Ukraine in defending its “territorial integrity” and “sovereignty.”
In this sense, he warned that the change of border in Ukrainewith the threat of some 100,000 Russian soldiers deployed alongside it and military maneuvers in Belarus, may set a dangerous precedent in other regions such as the Indo-Pacific.
Blinken participated this Friday in a meeting of the defense alliance Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) together with the foreign ministers of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayashi; that of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, as well as the head of Australian diplomacy, Marise Payne.
The Ukrainian army considers this area safe.
New Russian military maneuvers on the border with Ukraine
The Russian army was preparing this Friday to carry out new military maneuvers on the Ukrainian border, despite the latest negotiations to reduce tensions between Kiev and Moscow, accused by the Westerners of preparing an invasion.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement that 400 soldiers would participate in a “tactical exercise” on Friday in the southern region of Rostov, bordering Ukraine.
Some 70 military vehicles, including tanks and drones, will be used in these exercises during which soldiers will train for “combat missions”, according to the same source.
On Thursday, several tens of thousands of Russian soldiers began large-scale exercises in Ukraine’s neighbor Belarus, which are supposed to end on February 20.
And on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that naval maneuvers were carried out in the Black Sea. The Russian ships carried out a “search and destroy” exercise, the ministry said.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and has provided military and financial support to pro-Russian separatists fighting Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine since that year.
![Pripyat](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Ukrainian troops training in high radiation areas.
Biden asks Americans to leave Ukraine
![United States President Joe Biden](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
President Joe Biden met with the Democratic caucus to defend his electoral reform.
Al Drago/Bloomberg
US President Joe Biden called on his fellow citizens to immediately leave Ukraine.
“Things could speed up quickly,” Biden said in an interview with NBCnews warning of the power of the Russian army.
The US president, however, again ruled out sending soldiers to Ukraine, not even to evacuate its citizens in the event of an invasion.
That would be “a world war. When the Americans and the Russians start shooting at each other, we’re in a very different world,” Biden said.
European leaders have gone into a diplomatic frenzy in recent weeks to try to defuse the crisis, including visits to Moscow by French President Emmanuel Macron and soon to be German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. And in an attempt to avoid “unfortunate incidents”, the chief of the American General Staff, General Mark Milley, had an unusual conversation with his Belarusian counterpart, General Victor Goulevich.
But this Friday, the Kremlin regretted that the meeting with Germany, France and Ukraine on the crisis, held the day before in Berlin, did not produce “any result”.
“The meeting of political advisers under the ‘Normandy’ format did not lead to any results yesterday,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. According to Peskov, the representatives were “unable” to make the “same reading of the same text”, alluding to the Minsk peace accords signed in 2015 and which seek to end the conflict in Ukraine, which has already left more than 13,000 dead. in eight years, according to the UN.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
In other news
– Why is Trump accused of taking documents from the White House?
– The EU closes ranks before the attempt to divide from Moscow
#Russia #invade #Ukraine #Olympics