German Chancellor, after meeting with Putin: "Diplomacy has not been exhausted" 1:39
Washington (CNN) --
The United States has not seen "any significant withdrawal" of Russian forces from the border with Ukraine, despite claims from Moscow, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
"On the contrary, we continue to see that the forces, especially the forces that would be at the forefront of any renewed aggression against Ukraine, continue to be on the border, concentrated on the border," Blinken said on the "Good Morning America" program. the ABC chain.
The latest news from the Ukraine-Russia conflict: Biden and Putin make room for diplomacy
Moscow on Tuesday claimed that some of its troops were moving away from the Ukraine border, but multiple US and Western officials said that while they would welcome such a move, they have yet to see it happen.
US officials maintain that Russia still has the ability to invade its neighbor at any time, even as early as this week.
"We have heard signals from Moscow about the willingness to continue diplomatic efforts, but so far we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, it seems that Russia is continuing its military deployment," the NATO Secretary-General said on Wednesday. Jens Stoltenberg.
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US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Toria Nuland stressed that her concern "is that the troops that matter, the ones that are surrounding Ukraine from the north, from the east and from the south, are really increasing their readiness, so you keep all the options to come in whenever you want."
Blinken said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin "could pull the trigger."
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"He could tighten it today. He could do it tomorrow. He could do it next week. The forces are there if he wants to renew the aggression against Ukraine," the senior US diplomat said.
However, a Ukrainian intelligence report obtained by CNN showed that the Kyiv government does not consider the current Russian troop buildup to be sufficient to carry out "a successful large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly expressed much less alarm about the possible imminence of an invasion, in contrast to US officials.
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Zelenzky "tries to stay calm"
Blinken said Wednesday that he believes Zelensky is taking the threat "very seriously."
"He's trying to stay calm. He doesn't want his people to panic. That's the right thing to do," Blinken told ABC.
"But I think the Ukrainians are taking it very seriously. And, of course, if there is a new aggression from Russia, the consequences would be terrible, and first of all terrible for the Ukrainian people. So he recognizes it," he said. .
Moscow has consistently denied that it intends to invade neighboring Ukraine, and on Wednesday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "positive" that President Joe Biden wants to continue diplomacy.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said he believed the door for diplomacy remains open, saying countries "must give diplomacy every chance to succeed and I believe there are real ways to address our respective security concerns." ".
Biden affirms that the United States is willing to "give diplomacy every chance of success";
to de-escalate the crisis between Russia and Ukraine
Blinken stressed Wednesday that the United States remains committed to trying diplomacy to avoid a possible conflict, calling it "the right thing" and "the responsible thing to do."
"We are waiting for a response from Russia. Yesterday I spoke with Foreign Minister Lavrov. He told me that the response will come in the next few days. I hope it will come. We will analyze it carefully and then we will see what we do from there. But we remain committed to see if we can find a diplomatic resolution," he said.
"But again, this is really President Putin's decision, and what we're seeing on the border is still very, very concerning," Blinken added, noting that the United States and its allies are prepared to enact "massive consequences" in the face of a aggression by Russia.
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