(Washington) Russia has “increased” its presence on the border with Ukraine by up to “7,000 soldiers”, some of whom arrived on Wednesday, even as Moscow announced a partial withdrawal of its forces, assured a senior official of the White House.
Posted at 7:00 p.m.
“Yesterday the Russians announced that they were withdrawing troops from the border with Ukraine […]. We now know that is wrong. In fact, we have now confirmed that in recent days Russia has increased its presence along the Ukrainian border by up to 7,000 soldiers, some of whom arrived today,” the senior official, who requested anonymity, told journalists.
“Russia says it wants to find a diplomatic solution, but its actions indicate otherwise. We hope it will change direction before launching a catastrophic and destructive war,” he said.
He assured that Russia could “at any time” launch an operation that would serve as a pretext to invade Ukraine.
The senior official considered that this pretext operation could take “different forms”, such as “a provocation” in the Donbass region, or a false “incursion” into Russian territory.
Indicating to expect “more fake news from Russian state media in the coming days”, he said: “We hope the world is ready”.