Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. continued “to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border.”
A Russian military invasion of Ukraine could happen before the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics, prompting a stark warning from the White House that Americans still in Ukraine should leave in the next 24 to 48 hours.
And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday ordered the deployment of 3,000 additional troops to Poland as the crisis over Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine deepened.
As the U.S. ratchets up warnings of a potential invasion, President Joe Biden will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday morning on East Coast time, according to the White House.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Friday while U.S. officials have not determined whether Putin has made a decision to launch an invasion, there is a “credible prospect” that a military action could occur before Feb. 20, when the Olympics conclude.
“We can’t pinpoint the day at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place, even before the end of the Olympics,” he said.
Sullivan reiterated a warning for U.S. citizens in Ukraine to leave within the next two days. He emphasized there is no plans for a U.S. military evacuation and that choosing to stay means they are assuming risk “with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave.”
“The risk is now high enough and the threat is immediate enough that prudence demands that it is the time to leave now,” he said.
He said an invasion could take a range of different forms, including an assault on the capital city of Kyiv or moving on other parts of Ukraine. Sullivan added that U.S. officials believe Moscow is looking to create a “false flag operation” as a pretext for a military action, but declined to provide intelligence showing evidence of such a plot.
Here’s the latest in the unfolding crisis in Ukraine:
