The comments add to the sense of imminence of a possible Russian military attack, defying any perception that Washington expected Putin to stop after recognizing the independence of two Moscow-backed rebel regions this week.
“They have advanced their preparation to a point where they are literally ready to act now if they get the order,” the official said, without providing evidence to support the claim.
The United States has estimated that more than 150,000 Russian troops are concentrated around Ukraine.
The senior US official said Russian troops had taken up prepared positions, some just 5 kilometers from the Ukraine border.
Russian forces are mostly ground-based, including more than 120 tactical battalion groups, but Putin has also deployed more than two dozen warships to the Black Sea, including landing ships carrying marines, and has significant military forces. artillery and missiles, the official said.
To date, the Russian military has assembled nearly 100% of the forces the US anticipated it would mobilize for a large-scale attack, the official said.
The Joe Biden administration has been concerned by signs that Russia plans to mobilize its reserve forces. “We have indications that they plan to use their reserves and the National Guard equivalent and that is concerning because that would connote us long-term goals,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin claimed to have received a request for help from pro-Russian separatists to “counter” the Ukrainian army in a new sign of a possible Russian military intervention in Ukraine despite international sanctions.
Throughout the day, Ukraine mobilized its reservists from 18 to 60 years old, approved the state of emergency and announced that it had been the victim of a new massive cyberattack. “Nearly 200,000 Russian soldiers” are deployed on the border with Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday in an address to the nation, adding that he unsuccessfully requested a meeting with his Russian counterpart. He warned that the situation could lead to “a great war in Europe.”
The world is facing “a moment of danger,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned at the opening of the UN General Assembly.
Faced with this situation, the Ukrainian deputies approved by a large majority the state of emergency proposed by Zelenski and the secretary of the national security and defense council, Oleksii Danilov. “Ukraine needs clear and concrete security guarantees, immediately” from both Western countries and Russia, Zelensky told a news conference.
“We are united in the conviction that the future of European security is decided at this moment at home in Ukraine,” he added.
Hours later, Russia claimed that the leaders of the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine had asked for “help” to “counter aggression” by the Ukrainian army.
The Russian state agency Tass published the letters in this regard dated February 22, the day Russian parliamentarians authorized Putin to deploy troops to Ukraine if necessary.
Russia has begun evacuating its diplomatic staff from Ukraine, the embassy said on Wednesday. For its part, the United States had already decided last week to move its embassy from Kiev to Lviv, in the west of the country. And in a statement, France urged its citizens to leave the country “without delay.”
Just before, the Russian leader had insisted that Russian interests were “non-negotiable”, although he mentioned the possibility of a “direct and honest dialogue with the West”.
Source: Ambito
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