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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Photo: Graeme Jennings / AP
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitrij Kuleba, Russia has already stationed around 115,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
Is an attack imminent?
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken now spoke of "evidence" of Russia's plans against the neighboring country.
At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, he accused Moscow of preparing "considerable aggressive steps against Ukraine."
Blinken threatened Moscow with severe US economic sanctions in the event of an attack.
Russian plans ranged from "efforts to destabilize Ukraine from within to large-scale military operations."
Blinken did not provide any more detailed information.
Blinken warned Russia that the US would be able to react immediately to harmful actions by Moscow.
He had already said on Tuesday: "Russia would have to pay a high price for any form of aggression."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also reiterated his warning that any future Russian aggression against Ukraine would come at a high price and have serious political and economic consequences for Moscow.
Putin calls for the end of NATO's
eastward expansion
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin called on NATO to put an end to eastward expansion.
Russia needs "strong, reliable and long-term security guarantees" from the alliance, said the head of state on Wednesday in the Kremlin at an appointment with foreign ambassadors.
It is a serious matter for Russia that NATO has now moved its military infrastructure very close to Russia's borders, Putin said.
Therefore, the country must take military and technical steps.
These guarantees must also be legally binding, demanded the Kremlin chief.
Earlier verbal promises that NATO would not expand eastward were not kept by the Western partners.
At the same time, Putin complained that the West was doing everything it could to hinder Russia's development - for example through sanctions and by stirring up tensions at the country's borders.
"The threat to our western borders is indeed increasing."
as / dpa / Reuters / AFP
