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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says a Russian invasion against Ukraine “could begin at any time.” Moscow has rejected the allegation that it is preparing to invade the neighboring country.
“Simply put, we continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” Blinken told reporters during a news conference in Melbourne on Friday following meetings with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan.
“And as we’ve said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time. And to be clear, that includes during the Olympics,” Blinken added.
“We’re continuing to draw down our embassy. We will continue that process. And we’ve also been very clear that any American citizens who remain in Ukraine should leave now,” he said.
The Beijing Games will end on February 20, 2022.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden called on Americans in Ukraine to leave the country as soon as possible. He said he would not send troops to rescue US citizens in the event of a war.
“Things could go crazy quickly,” Biden told NBC News.
Biden was due to hold a telephone summit on Friday to discuss the crisis with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Poland and Romania, as well as heads of NATO and the EU.
This comes in an environment of massively heightened tensions, an intensive anti-Russian propaganda campaign by Washington, and deployment of forces and equipment throughout most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and three former Soviet republics that have joined NATO, with at least two others (Georgia and Ukraine) not yet admitted as formal members but who are involved in military cooperation, including hosting military assets, with the US and NATO.
Biden administration officials claimed Russia has assembled 110,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and is preparing for a “large-scale” invasion of the country, as the Biden administration keeps sending troops to eastern Europe to increase NATO military buildup there.
Last week, The Washington Post, citing a US military and intelligence assessment, reported that “Russia could seize Kyiv in days and cause 50,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine.”
