The U.S. believes that Russia will invade overnight on Wednesday, the Secretary of State said, as the United Nations called another emergency session of the Security Council.
Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State, was asked by Lester Holt on NBC News on whether he thought there would be a full-scale invasion from Russia ‘before this night is over’.
Blinken replied: ‘I do. Unfortunately Russia has positioned its forces at the final point of readiness across Ukraine’s borders – to the north, the east, the south.
‘Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine.’
Blinken added: ‘I can’t put a date or an exact time on it, but everything is in place for Russia to move forward.’
Blinken’s comments came as the UN prepared to hold its second – highly unusual – late night emergency session in three days.
The Council met on Monday night, with Russia – which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council – defiant in the face of criticism from other members. They will meet again on Wednesday at 9:30pm in New York.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday night addressed the nation, saying that he had tried to contact Vladimir Putin to discuss the situation, but Putin refused to take his call.
‘I initiated a telephone call with the president of the Russian federation. Result: silence,’ Zelensky said.
Zelensky also rejected Moscow’s claim that Ukraine was a threat to Russia.
‘The people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace,’ Zelensky said, adding that a Russian invasion would cost tens of thousands of lives.
Zelensky added that there were now 200,000 Russian troops amassed near Ukraine’s borders.
Zelensky said that the people of Russia were being lied to about Ukraine and urged them to help stop a possible war.
‘Who can stop (the war)? People. These people are among you, I am sure,’ he said.
Anthony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, was asked on Wednesday night whether he expected Putin to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine overnight, and replied: ‘I do’
After responding to @LesterHoltNBC in the affirmative if he believes Russia will launch a full invasion of Ukraine tonight, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he can’t put an exact date or time on it, but says everything is in place.
— GlobalNewsToday #vaccine💉 and its pros and cons (@GlobalNewsToda3) February 24, 2022
The Pentagon on Wednesday gave its most dire assessment yet of the situation with the Ukraine, warning that 80 percent of Russian troops are in combat-ready positions with a full scale attack by Vladimir Putin imminent.
‘They’re ready to go now if they get the order to go,’ a senior Defense Department official told reporters, adding that the Russian forces were positioned between three and 30 miles to the Ukrainian border.
The White House backed up that assessment.
‘We have been saying ‘imminent’ for days now,’ press secretary Jen Psaki said at her daily press briefing.
The warning came amid additional signs Russia was ready to make its move. The Kremlin claimed on Wednesday that Putin had received an appeal for ‘help in repelling the aggression of the armed forces and formations of Ukraine.’
The leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk asked Russia’s president to use military force under treaties signed after Moscow recognized their independence from the Ukraine, Moscow said.
Western officials worry Putin could use a claim of Ukrainian aggression as a pretext for an invasion.
And an invasion appears to be ready at Putin’s order.
If it comes, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby warned that any attack by Putin ‘won’t be bloodless.’
‘There will be suffering,’ Kirby said. ‘There will be sacrifice. And all of that must and should be laid at his feet. Because he’s doing this by choice.
At particular risk is the northeastern city of Kharkiv, CNN reported, which sits about 18 miles from Russia.
The latest dire warning signs of a full-blown attack follow the West sanctioning the Kremlin’s inner circle; Ukraine issuing a nationwide state of emergency and moving to allow citizens to arm themselves; and Russia continuing to tell the world they will not be deterred in their advance into separatist regions Putin has declared independent.
Ukrainian government websites and banks have also been shut down because of a sweeping cyberattack while Moscow’s tactical units have formed into battle-ready units ready to attack from the north, east and south.
Meanwhile the U.S. has re-positioned its firepower and 4,700 paratroopers around eastern Europe, with F-35s fighter jets and a fleet of Apache attack helicopters being sent from Germany to Baltic states and Poland.
Since October, Russia has been building an enormous military force along Ukraine’s border, with as many as 190,000 troops in or near Ukraine, American and Ukrainian officials told The New York Times.
Zelensky has called up military reservists, declared a 30-day state of emergency and has urged his people to stand up and fight with their country on the brink of invasion.
‘Ukrainians are a peaceful nation,’ he said. ‘We want quiet. But if we are today silent, then tomorrow we will disappear.’
In addition to the troop movements, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, said government websites are the result of a ‘new mass distributed denial-of-service attack.’ It’s unclear who is behind the cyber intrusion.
Meanwhile, Russia warned there would be a ‘painful’ response to sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies against Putin’s inner circle.
A fresh round of sanctions that struck at the heart of Putin’s inner circle appear not to be working.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called them part of Washington’s ‘ongoing attempts to change Russia’s course,’ and added that the pressure will not prove to be a deterrence.
‘There should be no doubt that sanctions will receive a strong response, not necessarily symmetrical, but finely tuned and painful to the American side,’ the ministry said on Wednesday.
But the U.S. struck again with sanctions on Wednesday. Biden announced ‘sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers.’
Biden said he made the decision after Germany called off certification of the pipeline, which was built to carry natural gas from Russia into Europe. Biden waived sanctions last year against Nord Stream 2 AG when the project was almost completed, in return for an agreement from Germany to take action against Russia if it used gas as a weapon or attacked Ukraine.
‘Through his actions, President Putin has provided the world with an overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas and to other forms of energy,’ Biden said, warning more sanctions could come.
As Russia pulled its diplomats from Kiev, Zelensky called for even harsher sanctions and warned the ‘future of European security is being decided now, here in Ukraine.’
Ukrainian servicemen check the situation on the position near the Katerynivka village not far from pro-Russian militants controlled city of Luhansk, Ukraine
President Joe Biden’s administration has warned the Ukrainian government that the latest intelligence points to a full scale attack by Vladimir Putin ‘imminently’ with almost 100% of Russian forces on the border ready to move in. Putin watches Fatherland Day celebrations on Wednesday after praising Russia’s fleet of hypersonic weapons
Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms at a railway station in the Rostov-on-Don region, not far from Russia-Ukraine border, on Wednesday. The latest dire warning signs of a full-blown attack follow the West sanctioning the Kremlin’s inner circle, Ukraine issuing a nationwide state of emergency allowing citizens to arm themselves and Russia continuing to tell the world they will not be deterred in their advance into regions Putin has declared independent
Putin has recognized two areas in eastern Ukraine as independent and authorised Russian troops to go in on ‘peacekeeping’ missions. Rebels already hold part of that territory (in red) but Putin has recognised a much-wider region (yellow) amid fears he will now try to seize it. There are also fears he is preparing to attack Kharkiv in Ukraine (green) after massing forces nearby
Putin is thought to be planning a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, having recognised two areas in the east of the country as independent earlier this week. Rebels already hold part of that territory (in dark red) but Putin has recognised a much-wider region (shaded red) amid fears he will now try to seize it
Russia has up to 190,000 troops backed by tanks, artillery, fighter jets and bombers surrounding Ukraine from three sides, as the US warns of a full-scale invasion of the whole country including an attack on the capital, Kiev
A Ukrainian soldier talks with her comrades sitting in a shelter at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Svitlodarsk, eastern Ukraine
Russian armored vehicles at the railway station in Rostov region, Russia. Since October, Russia has been building an enormous military force along Ukraine’s border, with as many as 190,000 troops in or near Ukraine, American and Ukrainian officials told The New York Times
Meanwhile the U.S. has re-positioned its firepower and 4,700 paratroopers around eastern Europe, with F-35s fighter jets and a fleet of Apache attack helicopters being sent from Germany to Baltic states and Poland
Russia has for months been massing troops, tanks, and support vehicles (pictured) on the border with Ukraine and is now thought to have up to 190,000 men ready to attack the country
Russian armoured troop transports are pictured in an assembly area, amid fears they could soon roll across the border and into Ukraine – sparking the most-serious war in Europe for decades
Russia has alternately claimed to be staging routine training exercises in its border regions, withdrawing its forces and reinforcing its allies in the region – all of which has been dismissed by the West as pretense (pictured, a Russian soldier)
Meanwhile, Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that Ukraine would introduce a 30-day period of emergency in a ramping up of precautions as Russian troops and blood supplies headed to frontlines in what U.S. officials said were ‘plans for war’. Ukrainian lawmakers are also working on legislation to allow its citizens to carry firearms.
U.S. moves troops to Baltic NATO states
The U.S. military has moved troops to the Baltic nations in an effort to bolster NATO’s eastern flank bordering Russia as Ukraine prepares for a full-scale invasion.
Up to 190,000 Russian troops have surrounded Ukraine, including Russian forces that have deployed to Belarus, which border NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
This has been nominally for military exercises, which have been watched over by Putin and Belarusian strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.
Biden confirmed he was moving additional U.S. troops to the Baltics, though he described the deployments as purely ‘defensive,’ asserting, ‘We have no intention of fighting Russia.’
The U.S. will send about 800 infantry troops and 40 attack aircraft to NATO’s eastern flank from other locations within Europe, according to a senior defense official.
In addition, a contingent of F-35 strike fighters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters will also be relocated.
The measures came as Russian forces rolled into rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine after Putin said he was recognizing the independence of the separatist regions in defiance of U.S. and European demands.
It move came after President Putin boasted of Russia’s preparedness and ‘advanced weapons’ including hypersonic missiles in a sabre-rattling speech.
Putin, speaking on Defender of the Fatherland Day, which marks the first mass draft into the Red Army in 1918, congratulated the armed forces on their ‘professionalism’ and said he was assured they would stand up for the country’s national interests – which he said are ‘non-negotiable’.
The Russian leader insisted that diplomacy with the West is still possible but gave no hint that he is willing to back down over any of his security demands – including that Ukraine disarm and drop its bid to join NATO. These have been dismissed by the U.S., Kiev and NATO as non-starters.
President Biden warned it was clear the Russian leader was preparing for conflict after U.S. sources observed Russia moving supplies of blood towards its border with Ukraine, saying: ‘You don’t need blood unless you’re planning to start a war.’
In a sign that a diplomatic solution appears unlikely, Blinken called off a high-level summit with Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov scheduled for Thursday.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who also cancelled his meeting, said Putin no longer accepted Ukraine’s independence under international law.
Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense council approved plans to declare a state of national emergency, with measures requiring stepped-up document and vehicle checks across the country. The declaration needs to be formally approved by parliament.
They would apply to all parts of Ukraine except for its two Russian-backed eastern separatist regions, where a deadly insurgency that has claimed more than 14,000 lives broke out in 2014.
Danilov said each of Ukraine’s regions would be able to select which particular measures to apply, ‘depending on how necessary they might be’.
‘What could it be? This could be added enforcement of public order,’ Danilov said. ‘This could involve limiting certain types of transport, increased vehicle checks, or asking people to show this or that document,’ he added, calling it a ‘preventive’ measure.
Additionally, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged its citizens in Russia to leave immediately. The ministry also recommended that Ukrainians not travel to Russia and warned the government may not be in a position to help any of its citizens in Russia.
Russia, meanwhile, began pulling personnel from its diplomatic posts in Ukraine, state news agency Tass reported. By Wednesday afternoon, the Russian flag was no longer flying over the embassy in Kiev, according to an Associated Press photographer.
Hopes for a diplomatic solution seem to be fading.
Biden warned on Tuesday that an invasion of Ukraine is already underway but could quickly ramp up into all-out war, with blood supplies being moved to the frontlines which could be used to treat injured soldiers.
‘This is the beginning of a Russian invasion. You don’t need blood unless you’re planning to start a war,’ Biden declared as he levied sanctions against Russian banks and promised harsher measures to come.
Biden said two Russian financial institutions, VTB and Russia’s military bank, will face sanctions. He also said Russia’s sovereign debt will be sanctioned so Russia ‘can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets, or European markets either.’
The administration also named five individuals being targeted, including Alex Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service; Putin’s deputy chief of staff Sergey Keriyenko; and Petr Fradkov, the CEO of Russian Promsvyazbank, the country’s largest military bank.
The White House warned more individuals could be targeted, with a senior administration official saying: ‘No Russian financial institution is safe if this invasion proceeds.’
Trans-Atlantic allies are lining up behind the American condemnation of Russia. Germany made the first big move, taking steps to halt certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, cutting off what Biden’s administration called a ‘cash cow’ for Moscow.
Britain also announced sanctions on three billionaires with close links to Putin, and five small lenders including Promsvyazbank.
Australia, Canada and Japan also announced sanctions. Australia will impose travel bans and financial penalties on eight members of Russia’s National Security Council. Canada sanctioned two Russian banks and Japan imposed financial penalties on Moscow.
Fighting also escalated along the frontlines between separatist forces and Ukraine’s men overnight, with one Ukrainian soldier killed and six injured in shelling. A house was also hit in the village of Muratovo.
Tensions between East and West dramatically ratcheted up Tuesday as Putin was granted authority by Russia’s lap-dog parliament to use military force abroad, a move that paves the way for him to attack Ukraine.
Hours earlier, he had given a speech in which he made expansionist claims about rebel-held territory in Ukraine’s east – saying Russia has recognized areas currently held by Ukrainian troops as belonging to the separatists.
That has sparked fears he is preparing for a land-grab of that territory under the auspices of a ‘peacekeeping’ mission to the region which could extend even beyond those boundaries and all the way to the city of Kharkiv – where several major Ukrainian military bases are located.
Russian tanks and armored vehicles have been spotted hiding in civilian areas and the tree lines of forests in several areas just to the north of Kharkiv in recent days, within just three miles of the border.
Putin has up to 190,000 troops backed by thousands of tanks and artillery units, hundreds of fighter jets and dozens of bombers encircling Ukraine from three sides – with up to 10,000 men already thought to have moved into rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk on the current frontlines with Ukrainian forces.
Western nations have tried to present a united front in the face of the invasion, with more than two dozen European Union members unanimously agreeing to levy their own initial set of sanctions against Russian officials.
The U.S., meanwhile, moved to cut off Russia’s government from Western finance, sanctioning two of its banks and blocking it from trading in its debt on American and European markets.
The administration’s actions hit civilian leaders in Russia’s leadership hierarchy and two Russian banks considered especially close to the Kremlin and Russia’s military, with more than $80 billion in assets.
That includes freezing all of those banks’ assets under U.S. jurisdictions.
A Russian attack on Ukraine could start in the Donbass region (top right) with attempts to expand rebel-held areas, that could either be in coordination with or before a much wider assault on the entire country (top right). Should the fighting spill over Ukraine’s borders, it could drag in NATO forces stationed in Europe (bottom centre)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called up military reservists and is calling on upon the Ukrainian people to fight
The Russian Embassy in Kiev where its flag does not appear to be flying amid reports Moscow has recalled its diplomats
A Ukrainian pilot boards a fighter jet at an air base in an undisclosed region of the country early Wednesday, as he takes part in combat readiness drills amid fears Russian is about to invade
A Ukrainian Su-34 fighter jet, originally made in Russia, takes off from an airfield in an undisclosed region of the country amid fears that Russia is about to stage a full-scale invasion
The tail fins of Ukrainian Su-34 fighter jets are seen at an undisclosed air field somewhere in Ukraine as one takes to the skies during combat readiness checks ahead of what could be a full-scale Russian invasion
Ukrainian firefighters attempt to put out a blazing house in the village of Muratovo, close to the frontlines with pro-Moscow rebels in Luhansk, after it was shelled overnight
Ukraine said one soldier died and another six were injured in shelling by pro-Moscow rebels overnight, which also hit and destroyed a house in the village of Muratovo
Russian volunteers carry medical supplies to a warehouse in the city of Taganrog, close to the border of Ukraine, after Biden warned that blood is being moved to the frontlines in what is considered to be one of the final moves before an attack
Five of Putin’s ‘inner circle’ hit by sanctions
President Joe Biden took a direct hit at Vladimir Putin’s inner circle on Tuesday by invoking sanctions on five named individuals.
They are:
- Alex Bortnikov, the head of Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Russia’s principal security agency);
- Bortnikov’s son Dennis, who is the deputy president of VTB Bank;
- Putin’s deputy chief of staff Sergey Keriyenko;
- Keriyneko’s son Vladimir, who is currently the CEO of VK Group which runs Russia’s version of Facebook;
- Promsvyazbank CEO Pyotr Fradkov, head of nation’s largest military bank.
Biden said two Russian financial institutions, VTB and Russia’s military bank, will also face sanctions.
The two institutions ‘hold more than $80 billion in assets and finance the Russian defense sector and economic development,’ the White House noted in a fact sheet.
‘These measures will freeze their assets in the United States, prohibit U.S. individuals and businesses from doing any transactions with them, shut them out of the global financial system, and foreclose access to the U.S. dollar.’
Biden also said Russia’s sovereign debt will be sanctioned so Russia ‘can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets, or European markets either.’
Biden, though, did hold back some of the broadest and toughest of the financial penalties contemplated by the U.S., including sanctions that would reinforce the hold that Germany put on any startup of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline; an export ban that would deny Russia U.S. high tech for its industries and military; and sweeping bans that could cripple Russia’s ability to do business with the rest of the world.
Biden said he was moving additional U.S. troops to the Baltics, though he described the deployments as purely ‘defensive,’ asserting, ‘We have no intention of fighting Russia.’
The U.S. is sending about 800 infantry troops and 40 attack aircraft to NATO’s eastern flank from other locations within Europe, according to a senior defense official. In addition, a contingent of F-35 strike fighters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters will also be relocated.
Earlier Tuesday, members of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, voted unanimously to allow Putin to use military force outside the country – effectively formalizing a Russian military deployment to the rebel regions, where an eight-year conflict has killed nearly 14,000 people.
Shortly afterward, Putin laid out three conditions to end the crisis that has threatened to plunge Europe back into war, raising the specter of massive casualties, energy shortages across the continent and global economic chaos.
Putin said the crisis could be resolved if Kiev recognizes Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, renounces its bid to join NATO and partially demilitarizes.
The West has decried the annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law and has previously flatly rejected permanently barring Ukraine from NATO.
Asked whether he has sent any Russian troops into Ukraine and how far they could go, Putin responded: ‘I haven’t said that the troops will go there right now.’ He added that ‘it’s impossible to forecast a specific pattern of action – it will depend on a concrete situation as it takes shape on the ground.’
The EU announced initial sanctions aimed at the 351 Russian lawmakers who voted for recognizing the two separatist regions in Ukraine, as well as 27 other Russian officials and institutions from the defense and banking sectors. They also sought to limit Moscow’s access to EU capital and financial markets.
With tensions rising and a broader conflict looking more likely, the White House began referring to the Russian deployments in the region known as the Donbas as an ‘invasion’ after initially hesitating to use the term – a red line that Biden had said would result in severe sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall on the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow
President Joe Biden said it defies logic to think Putin has taken such extensive military preparations, including putting 190,000 Russian troops on the border and moving blood supplies to those areas, for reasons other than invading Ukraine
Satellite imagery from Tuesday shows several new deployments of troops and equipment have been established in rural areas southwest of Belgorod, less than 20 kilometers to the northwest of the border with Ukraine
Satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies shows a close up of field hospital and troop deployment in western Belgorod, Russia, less than 20 kilometers to the northwest of the border with Ukraine
Satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies shows a close up of assembled vehicles at Bokov Airfield near Mazyr, Belarus, on Tuesday
Satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies shows armor and vehicles at a railyard in Belgorod, Russia, on Tuesday
Satellite imagery from Tuesday shows new deployments of troops and equipment that have been established in rural areas southwest of Belgorod, Russia, which is close to the Ukrainian border
‘We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,’ Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser, said on CNN.
‘An invasion is an invasion, and that is what is underway.’
The White House announced limited sanctions targeting the rebel regions on Monday evening soon after Putin said he was sending in troops.
A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters about those sanctions, noted ‘that Russia has occupied these regions since 2014’ and that ‘Russian troops moving into Donbas would not itself be a new step.’
Western leaders have long warned Moscow would look for cover to invade – and just such a pretext appeared to come Monday, when Putin recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk separatist regions.
The Kremlin then raised the stakes further by saying that recognition extends even to the large parts of those two regions now held by Ukrainian forces, including the major Azov Sea port of Mariupol.
He added, however, that the rebels should eventually negotiate with Ukraine.
Condemnation from around the world was quick.
In Washington, lawmakers from both parties in Congress vowed continued U.S. support for Ukraine, even as some pushed for swifter and even more severe sanctions on Russia.
Senators had been considering a sanctions package but held off as the White House pursued its strategy.