Tense on Russian-Ukrainian border, upcoming talks between Biden and Putin
ERBIL, KRG, Iraq (North Press) – Tensions soar on Russian-Ukrainian border as Russia deployed around 170,000 soldiers and heavy weapons to invade Ukraine.
The Washington Post cited officials and an intelligence document yesterday as saying Russia could be planning a multi-front offensive on Ukraine as early as next year.
“The Russian plan call to launch a military offensive against Ukraine as soon as early 2022 with a scale of forces twice what we saw this past spring during Russia’s snap exercise near Ukraine’s borders,” an administration official told the news outlet.
The Washington Post reported that the US document showed that Russian buildup is currently happening in four locations on the Ukrainian border with newly arrived tanks and artillery, and 50 battlefield tactical groups have been deployed.
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, said the US is carrying its own military operation near the Ukraine border to show that the situation is aggravated and blame Russia for that.
“I have evidence of provocative actions by the US near the Russian border,” She added.
Bloomberg reported a ‘sharp’ verbal argument between US and Russian ministers of foreign affairs, Antony Blinken and his counterpart Sergey Lavrov concerning the Ukrainian issue in at a dinner time.
The verbal argument coincided with the US and its European allies attempts find solutions for the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, including potential sanctions on Moscow.
On November 3, Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine Defense Minister cited intelligence reports as saying Russia has amassed more than 94 soldiers near Ukraine’s border and may be planning a large-scale military offensive to invade Ukraine for the end of January.
On the way to Camp David resort two days ago, Biden said ” we are aware of Russia’s actions for a long time and my expectation is we are going to have a long discussion with Putin.”
“I do not accept anybody’s red lines,” he said.
Yesterday, the Kremlin announced that discussions will be held via video between the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Joe Biden on December 7.
“Talks between Biden and Putin would be in the near future,” Blinken said.