United States President Joe Biden has called on his fellow citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying on Friday that Russia was amassing even more troops on the border and may even launch an invasion during the Olympic Games.
“Things could quickly get carried away,” warned the American president in an interview Thursday with the NBC channel. He repeated that he would not send soldiers on the ground in Ukraine, even to evacuate Americans in the event of a Russian invasion, because that could start “a world war”.
“When Americans and Russians start shooting at each other, we’re in a very different world,” he said.
In addition to the more than 100,000 men massed on the Ukrainian border, the Russian and Belarusian armies are carrying out major maneuvers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic bordering Ukraine, which has remained an ally of Moscow.
The Kremlin is accused of preparing a new military operation against Ukraine, after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Accusations rejected by Russia, which claims to just want to ensure its security in the face of hostility from Kiev and NATO .
“American citizens should leave, they should leave now. We are dealing with one of the largest armies in the world,” pleaded the president in reference to the Russian army.
From Melbourne, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he saw “very disturbing signs of a Russian escalation”.
“We are in a period where an invasion could start at any time, and to be clear, that includes the Olympics,” he said, brushing aside speculation that Moscow was waiting until the end of the Beijing Games, which s end on February 20, to avoid overshadowing its Chinese ally.
Canada has also called on its nationals to evacuate Ukraine. “If you are in Ukraine, you should leave,” the Foreign Ministry says on its website. “Russian military action in Ukraine could disrupt travel and services across the country. Flights could be disrupted or canceled,” the ministry said, concluding: “Be prepared to take shelter.”
“Raise the tension”
A few hours before Joe Biden’s statements, the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, urged China “to encourage the Russians” to make the right choices in the Ukrainian crisis.
“The Chinese expressed strong concern in the Security Council (January 31) for the protection of border integrity and state sovereignty. That’s exactly what the Russians are doing — they are threatening the integrity of a border,” the diplomat said.
“It would therefore be extremely important for China to transmit this message” and “I encourage my Chinese counterpart in New York to relay it”, she specified.
On Twitter, his Chinese counterpart Zhang Jun immediately reacted: “Stop stirring up tension”.
Strategic bombers
US B-52 strategic bombers arrived in the UK on Thursday to take part in a “long-planned” exercise with NATO allies, the US Air Force said.
The US Navy said on Thursday that four US destroyers left the United States last month to take part in a naval exercise in the Sixth Fleet area, which includes the Mediterranean.
Russia, for its part, announced on Thursday the arrival in Crimea of six warships for upcoming maneuvers in the Black Sea, which borders southern Ukraine.
The deployment of these soldiers was immediately qualified by the Ukrainian presidency as a means of “psychological pressure” used by Moscow.
Against the backdrop of a war of nerves and intensified diplomatic efforts in recent weeks, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned Russia that it should not underestimate the “unity” and “determination” of Europeans.
Affirming that he wanted to prevent “unfortunate incidents” from occurring when these military exercises began, the American Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, had a telephone conversation with his Belarusian counterpart, General Viktor Goulevitch.
The United States has at the same time been reserved about possible progress obtained by French President Emmanuel Macron, who met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday in Moscow to try to defuse the crisis.
US officials openly doubt the assurances that Emmanuel Macron claims to have “obtained” from the master of the Kremlin that there would be no further escalation.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea was followed by the outbreak of a conflict in eastern Ukraine between Kiev forces and Moscow-backed separatists, a war that has claimed more than 14,000 lives in eight years, according to a latest report from the UN.