Alwaght- White House urged Americans to leave Ukraine immediately, suggesting that the Russian military is in a position to invade the country within days.
Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said at a White House media briefing on Friday that US observations and intelligence show Russia has all the military elements in place needed for an invasion of Ukraine.
A rapid assault on the city of Kyiv beginning with an aerial bombing campaign is a possibility and could come before the end of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing next week, Sullivan said.
“We can’t pinpoint the day at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but that is a very, very distinct possibility,” Sullivan said, cautioning that US officials still do not believe Putin has decided to invade and the US continues to seek a diplomatic outcome to the crisis.
“We are not saying that a decision has been taken – that a final decision has been taken by President Putin. What we are saying is that, we have a sufficient level of concern based on what we are seeing on the ground,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
“We continue to see signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” Sullivan said. “As we’ve said before, we are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time should Vladimir Putin decide to order it.”
He also repeated State Department spokesman Ned Price’s claim that Russia is working to fabricate a pretext for invasion with a “false flag operation” in eastern Ukraine. Just like Price, Sullivan offered no evidence for the claim.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected US allegations it plans to invade Ukraine as “fake news,” but has demanded new security guarantees, including that Ukraine will never join the NATO alliance.
