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Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman: Will Russia really attack Ukraine?
Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
The US government expects a Russian attack on Ukraine soon.
"I have no idea if he made a final decision," US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"But everything indicates that he will use military force at some point between now and mid-February." The US government had previously mentioned the period between mid-January and mid-February as a possible window for a Russian attack on Ukraine .
Sherman told the Yalta European Strategy roundtable that the timing of a possible attack could be related to the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"We are all aware that the Beijing Winter Games will start on February 4 and that President Putin wants to take part in the opening ceremony," said the deputy foreign minister.
“I don't think (Chinese) President Xi Jinping would be delighted if Putin chose this moment to invade Ukraine.
That could affect his timing and deliberations.”
US Embassy in Kiev warns compatriots
An appeal by the American embassy in Kiev also shows how serious the US considers the danger of an escalation to be.
All Americans should now consider leaving the country, the embassy said on Wednesday.
The security situation in the country is unpredictable because of the growing threat of Russian military action.
The situation could quickly deteriorate.
In view of a massive Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, Kiev and the West fear an impending attack on the country.
However, there are different assessments of how great the danger of an invasion actually is - and how far Putin could go in an attack on Ukraine.
The government in Moscow denies any intention to attack.
Planes from Great Britain and the USA with military equipment are currently landing in Kiev almost every day.
Above all, these are guided missiles for anti-tank defense, but bunker-busting weapons have also been delivered.
In addition, further deliveries are expected, including US-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from the three Baltic States.
US fighter jets landed at base in Estonia
Germany, which is officially the mediator in the conflict, has so far refused to supply arms to the crisis region in order to prevent further escalation.
But Germany now wants to deliver 5,000 military protective helmets to Ukraine.
US F-15 fighter jets landed at a base in Estonia on Wednesday, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense announced.
The step comes after NATO announced that it would move more combat units to Eastern Europe.
Denmark announced it would base four F-16s in Lithuania on Thursday.
In view of a possible threat of an invasion by Russia in Ukraine, concerns are also growing in neighboring NATO and EU member Romania.
"We are ready to accommodate a larger presence of the (NATO) alliance," President Klaus Iohannis said in a televised speech after a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council on Wednesday.
They want to actively campaign for more NATO troops on Romanian territory.
The President also called on NATO and the EU for "unity and solidarity" in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In the "security crisis created by Russia," not only the security of Ukraine is at stake, and not just that of Europe, but that of "the entire Euro-Atlantic area," emphasized Iohannis.
In the event that Russia “rejects the path of dialogue” and hostilities break out, Romania is preparing, among other things, for incoming migrants.
Meanwhile, arms deliveries for the separatists are being discussed in Russia.
The Kremlin party United Russia proposed officially supplying military supplies to the Moscow-loyal separatist areas in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
This would be a reaction to arms deliveries from the United States and Great Britain to the Ukrainian army, it said.
For years, Russia has been criticized internationally for supplying weapons to the breakaway regions and for having its own soldiers deployed there.
The Kremlin repeatedly rejects this.
Officially, Russia has criticized Western arms sales to Ukraine as a destabilizing factor in the conflict.
Normandy format talks in Paris
The people of Donbass cannot be left at the mercy of Ukrainian government troops, said Vladimir Vasilyev, the head of the Kremlin's United Russia faction in the State Duma.
The party is therefore turning to the Russian government with a request to "help the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk."
The weapons should serve the self-defense of the citizens.
In order to ease the situation in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Germany and France are holding talks in the so-called Normandy format with the conflicting parties in the Ukraine conflict in Paris on Wednesday.
In addition to German and French diplomats, the Kremlin's Ukraine envoy, Dmitri Kozak, and the high-ranking Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak will meet at the Elysée Palace in Paris.
The Normandy format was launched in 2014 to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The mediation by Berlin and Paris led to the Minsk Agreement of 2015. However, Kiev and Moscow regularly accuse each other of violating the Minsk Agreement.
In the past few weeks, Russia had gathered around 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
In addition, the Kremlin had announced a series of military maneuvers, including near the border and in Crimea.
In the course of one of these maneuvers, Russian warships entered the Barents Sea on Wednesday, according to the Northern Fleet.
So far, according to the government in Kiev, the strength of the Russian troops stationed in the border area is not sufficient for a large-scale attack.
The Kremlin is currently working primarily on "destabilizing" Ukraine with "scaremongering, pressure on the Ukrainian financial system and cyber attacks," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday.
However, he did not rule out that Russia could soon increase troop levels to a level sufficient for a large-scale attack.
anr/AFP/Reuters/dpa
