War in Donbass (Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
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This was stated by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, reports CNN.
She stressed that Russia could attack Ukraine «any time”.
“We have come to the point where, in our opinion, the attack can begin at any moment,” she said.
She also said that the US does not take Russian statements of de-escalation at face value.
“There is what Russia says and what Russia does,” Psaki said.
The spokeswoman also added that the United States is open to a diplomatic solution to the issue.
On February 16, Russia opened a criminal case against Ukraine for allegedly mistreating civilians in the Donbass.
The Russian Federation claims that in August-October 2021, it found five mass graves in the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Journalist Olga Khudetskaya drew attention to the fact that mass graves were found not in the territory that has been occupied since 2014, when the Russian Federation launched an armed offensive against Donbass.
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, occupied Crimea, controls military forces in Donbas, and currently has more than 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.
On Feb. 16, Reuters reported, citing sources, that the number of Russian mercenaries had increased in Ukraine in recent weeks to create a pretext for an invasion, according to some NATO members.
US President Joe Biden told NATO allies and EU leaders that Russia could invade Ukraine on February 16, Politico reported citing a source.
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The same date for the likely invasion, according to Der Spiegel, was announced by the CIA and the US military to the German government and other NATO countries.
Bloomberg, citing sources among US officials, said the new Russian aggression against Ukraine may begin on February 15. in Russia in response accused the Western media of a “large-scale disinformation campaign».
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