Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to invade Ukraine, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have expressed concern in recent weeks about a possible invasion from Russia. This belief is shaped in part because Russia has amassed a strong military buildup near the border, which increased over recent weeks.
AUSTIN ORDERS REVIEW INTO YEARS-OLD SYRIAN STRIKE THAT KILLED CIVILIANS
“We’re deeply concerned by evidence that Russia made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine,” Blinken said at a Wednesday press conference in Latvia at the end of a North Atlantic Treaty Alliance meeting. “The plans include efforts to destabilize Ukraine from within, as well as large scale military operations.”
The secretary pointed to various similarities between recent events and what led up to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 as indicators of what could come in the near future.
“Now we’ve seen this playbook before. In 2014, when Russia last invaded Ukraine. Then, as now, they significantly increased combat forces near the border,” he added. “Then, as now, they intensified disinformation to paint Ukraine as the aggressor to justify preplanned military action. We’ve seen that tactic again in just the past 24 hours. In recent weeks, we’ve also observed a massive spike, more than ten fold, in social media activity pushing anti-Ukrainian propaganda approaching levels last seen in the lead up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"We don't know whether President Putin has made the decision to invade" Ukraine, Blinken added.
A day earlier, the secretary warned that "any renewed aggression can trigger serious consequences."
In addition to the buildup of troops at the border, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that officials had discovered evidence of a planned coup with potential connections to Russia last week.