US warns Russia has enough military means for Ukraine invasion

The Pentagon warned that Russia had amassed enough military assets along the Ukrainian border to launch an invasion at any moment, a buildup that gave the Kremlin a “range of options” including an attack aimed at occupying everything. the country.

The assessment, made Friday by Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defense, came as Russian President Vladimir Putin said Washington’s response to Kremlin security demands was inadequate, raising new questions about whether the diplomatic channel to resolve the impasse had closed.

Taken together, the warnings from Washington and Moscow seemed to bring NATO and the Russian military closer to a war footing. Although the United States and the Atlantic Alliance said they would not send troops to Ukrainian soil if Russia attacked, some allies hastily armed the U.S.-backed Ukrainian army.

The toughening rhetoric spooked leaders in Kyiv, who expressed concern that tightrope climbing could tip Europe into all-out conflict. Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, on Friday urged the United States and other Western donors to ease their slashes.

“We understand what the risks are,” Zelensky told a news conference, where he disputed part of the Pentagon’s assessment, saying “we don’t see a greater escalation” than last spring. , when the military build-up of Russia began. “We don’t need this panic,” he added.

We don’t need this panic

Despite Zelensky’s pleas, the United States and the West continued to prepare for war. US military planners prepare 8,500-man force to deploy to NATO nations in Eastern Europe to protect alliance flank; Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that four NATO members border Ukraine and that treaty commitments meant Washington was obligated to defend them.

Austin said that although Putin had amassed enough forces to stage an invasion, the United States believed the Russian president had not yet “made the final decision to use those forces against Ukraine.”

Yet the build-up has now reached a point where “multiple options are available to him, including seizing major cities and territories,” Austin added.

At a press conference at the Pentagon, Milley agreed with the assessment. “With 100,000 troops – you have combined arms formations, ground maneuvers, artillery, rockets, you have air and all the other pieces that go with it. There is potential that they could throw with very, very little warning,” he said.

US officials said the path to a diplomatic resolution remained open and urged Putin to step down. But in a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Putin said the US’s written response to Russia’s security demands, transmitted to Moscow earlier this week, failed to address his greatest concern. : the expansion of NATO towards the Russian border.

“Attention has been drawn to the fact that the responses of the United States and NATO did not take into account such fundamental Russian concerns as the prevention of NATO enlargement,” the Kremlin said in a statement. press release, summarizing Putin’s remarks to Macron.

In Paris, however, a senior French official said Putin told Macron “he was not looking for confrontation”.

With diplomacy stalled, the United States and its allies continued to prepare for the economic fallout from a Russian invasion. The United States and the EU have pledged to work together to protect Europe’s energy supply if an attack leads to a collapse in gas shipments to the continent.

Additionally, the Biden administration has met with U.S. banks to warn them of a possible financial backlash from the large-scale economic sanctions Washington has pledged to trigger in the event of an invasion.

“As we have made clear, in addition to the significant economic and diplomatic costs Russia will incur, action against Ukraine will accomplish exactly what Russia says it does not want – a strengthened and resolute NATO alliance,” Austin said.

The United States is in talks with gas producers like Qatar to help fill any European shortfalls, and in a joint statement President Joe Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said they “were working with governments and market operators” to secure emergency supplies.

As part of this effort, the EU is preparing to send a delegation to Azerbaijan. Russia supplies 40% of the EU’s gas and officials fear Moscow will retaliate to Western sanctions by cutting pipeline flows.

Brussels is also in talks with some Asian countries on possible LNG swap deals, a commission official said. “What we are doing is reaching out as much as possible to one of the vendors,” they added.

Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, will visit Azerbaijan early next month for talks with the country’s energy and natural resources ministers, with the aim of mobilizing support for additional gas flows to Europe, an EU official said.

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said this month that Moscow was already limiting gas supplies to Europe, pointing out that Russian gas exports to Europe had fallen by 25% year-over-year in the last three months of 2021.

The IEA estimates that Russia is withholding at least a third of the gas it could send to Europe.

Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Moscow, Victor Mallet in Paris, Gary Silverman in New York and Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv