According to Fox News, US sources think Russia is planning a multi-front military assault of Ukraine involving up to 175,000 troops as soon as early 2022.
According to a senior US defense source, the US is taking recent Kremlin signals extremely seriously and does not believe the situation to be a bluff.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a flower-laying ceremony at the Russian Civil War memorial on Unity Day, in Sevastopol, Crimea
According to the defense official, Russia already has around 100,000 troops stationed along its border with Ukraine.
When asked about the report on Friday, President Biden said the United States would make it “very, very difficult” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to carry it out.
“We’ve been aware of Russia’s actions for a long time and my expectation is we’re gonna have a long discussion with Putin,” Biden told reporters later, as he prepared to leave Washington for a weekend visit to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland.
“We’ve been aware of Russia’s actions for a long time and my expectation is we’re gonna have a long discussion with Putin.”
— President Biden
In earlier comments, Biden told reporters that his administration had new initiatives planned that were intended to deter Russian aggression.
“What I am doing is putting together what I believe to be, will be, the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do,” Biden said.
The planned Ukraine offensive for 2022 would involve about double the number of Russian troops that participated in a military exercise near the Ukraine border last spring.
“The plans involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups with an estimated 175,000 personnel, along with armor, artillery and equipment,” a Biden administration official told Fox News.
“The plans involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups with an estimated 175,000 personnel, along with armor, artillery and equipment.”— US official speaking to The Washington Post
During a trip to Europe earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. had detected “evidence that Russia has made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine.”
‘All contingencies’
In statements this week, one day before meeting with his Russian counterpart, Blinken suggested Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine soon, whether he intended to or not — and that the US needed to be prepared in either case.
“We must be prepared for every eventuality,” Blinken stated.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met with Blinken in Sweden, alluded to increased US military action and weaponry nearing Russia’s borders.
“The nightmare scenario of military confrontation is returning,” Lavrov said, according to the Washington Post.
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