US president Joe Biden has said that there is a “distinct possibility” that Russia will invade Ukraine in February, during a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Over recent weeks, Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, igniting fears that an invasion could be imminent.
Russia has denied that it is planning any incursion on Ukrainian territory but warned this week that it saw “little ground for optimism” in diplomatically resolving the crisis after the US rejected its main demands as non-starters.
One of Russia’s demands that were decisively ruled out by the Americans includes a “non-negotiable” condition that Ukraine must never be allowed to join the NATO alliance.
The US rejected the demand on the grounds that it constitutes an infringement on Ukrainian sovereignty and its right to choose to be part of any alliance it wishes, including NATO.
Russia has maintained its stance that NATO, rather than it, is acting as the aggressor and has expressed concern over the alliance’s expansion eastward into former Soviet states. In a call with French president Emmanuel Macron on Friday, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the West had ignored Russia's concerns and the stand-off had not been resolved.
Referencing the US president's call with the Ukrainian premier, Emily Horne, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said: “President Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February. He has said this publicly and we have been warning about this for months.”
The White House said that during the discussion, the president “reaffirmed the readiness of the US along with its allies and partners to respond decisively” in the event of a Russian invasion.
Russia last occupied Ukrainian territory in 2014, annexing part of the country’s southern Crimean Peninsula. Since then, Moscow has also been supporting pro-Russian insurgent groups who have captured parts of the eastern Donbass region in Ukraine.
This week, the US threatened Russia with suspension of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which would transport Russian gas exports to Germany, should it mount an invasion of Ukraine. Further economic sanctions against Russia are also being considered by western allies.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has previously said that it would be "disastrous" if Russia were to mount an invasion of Ukraine, calling it a "painful, violent and bloody business".
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
