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world news Diaranson 26 Januari 2022

Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent

(AP) — Ukraine’s leaders sought will be very high.”
Tuesday to reassure the nation
that an invasion from neighbor- The U.S. and its allies have vowed to
ing Russia was not imminent, hit Russia with sanctions like never
even as they acknowledged the before if Moscow sends its military
threat is real and received a ship- into Ukraine but they have provided
ment of U.S. military equipment few details, saying it’s best to keep
to shore up their defenses. Putin guessing.

Moscow has denied it is planning an The U.S. State Department has or-
assault, but it has massed an estimat- dered the families of all American
ed 100,000 troops near Ukraine in personnel at the U.S. Embassy in
recent weeks and is holding military Kyiv to leave the country, and it said
drills at multiple locations in Russia. that nonessential embassy staff could
That has led the United States and its leave. Britain said it, too, was with-
NATO allies to rush to prepare for a drawing some diplomats and depen-
possible war. dents from its embassy, and families
of Canadian diplomatic staff also
U.S. President Joe Biden told re- have been told to leave.
porters that Russian President Vladi-
mir Putin “continues to build forces In Ukraine, however, authorities probable in the future.” prevent destabilization and panic in-
along Ukraine’s border,” and an at- have sought to project calm in or- side the country, hence the calming
tack “would be the largest invasion der not to destabilize the situation Russia has said Western accusations it statements saying there is no threat
since World War II. It would change and avoid panic — and many citizens is planning an attack are merely a cov- of an imminent Russian invasion,”
the world.” have expressed skepticism that there er for NATO’s own planned provo- political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko
will be an invasion soon. cations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry said.
Several rounds of high stakes diplo- Peskov again accused the U.S. of “fo-
macy have failed to yield any break- Speaking in the second televised menting tensions” around Ukraine, a “The Kremlin’s plans include under-
throughs, and tensions escalated fur- speech to the nation in as many days, former Soviet state that has been in a mining the situation inside Ukraine,
ther this week. NATO said it was bol- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conflict with Russia for almost eight fomenting hysteria and fear among
stering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea urged Ukrainians not to panic. years. Ukrainians, and the authorities in
region, and the U.S. ordered 8,500 Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to
troops on higher alert for potential “We are strong enough to keep every- Moscow has rejected Western de- contain this snowball,” he added.
deployment to Europe as part of an thing under control and derail any at- mands to pull its troops back from ar-
alliance “response force” if necessary. tempts at destabilization,” he said. eas near Ukraine, saying it will deploy The crisis didn’t stop a large group
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and train them wherever necessary of people from rallying in front of
also said he is prepared to send troops The decision by the U.S., Britain, on its territory as a response to what the parliament in Kyiv, demanding
to protect NATO allies in Europe. Australia, Germany and Canada to it called “hostile” moves by the U.S. changes to the country’s tax regula-
withdraw some of their diplomats and its allies. Thousands of troops tions and even clashing with police at
“We have no intention of putting and dependents from Kyiv “doesn’t from Russia’s Southern and Western one point.
American forces or NATO forces necessarily signal an inevitable escala- Military Districts took part Tuesday
in Ukraine,” Biden said, adding that tion and is part of a complex diplo- in readiness drills in those regions in Other Ukrainians watched warily.
there would be serious economic matic game,” he said. ”We are work- maneuvers involving Iskander mis-
consequences for Putin, including ing together with our partners as a siles and dozens of warplanes. “Of course we fear Russia’s aggres-
personal sanctions, in the event of an single team.” sion and a war, which will lead to the
invasion. In 2014, following the ouster of a further impoverishment of Ukraini-
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov Kremlin-friendly president in Kyiv, ans. But we will be forced to fight and
In a show of European unity in Ber- told parliament that “as of today, Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crime- defend ourselves,” said Dmytro Ugol,
lin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz there are no grounds to believe” an Peninsula and threw its weight a 46-year-old construction worker in
and French President Emmanuel Russia is preparing to invade immi- behind a separatist insurgency in the Kyiv. “I am prepared to fight, but my
Macron called for an easing of the nently, noting that its troops have not country’s eastern industrial heart- entire family doesn’t want it and lives
crisis. formed what he called a battle group land. Fighting between Ukrainian in tension. Every day, the news scares
that could force its way through the forces and Russia-backed rebels has us more and more.”
“We ... expect clear steps from Russia border. killed over 14,000 people, and efforts
that will contribute to a de-escalation to reach a settlement have stalled. Putting U.S.-based troops on height-
of the situation,” Scholz said. “Don’t worry, sleep well,” he said. In the latest standoff, Russia wants ened alert for Europe on Monday
“No need to have your bags packed.” guarantees from the West that NATO suggested diminishing hope in the
Macron, who said he would talk with will never admit Ukraine as a mem- West that Putin will back away from
President Vladimir Putin by phone In an interview late Monday, how- ber and that the alliance would cur- what U.S. President Joe Biden him-
Friday, added: “If there is aggression, ever, he acknowledged that “there are tail other actions, such as stationing self has said looks like a threat to in-
there will be retaliation and the cost risky scenarios” that “are possible and troops in former Soviet bloc coun- vade Ukraine.
tries. Some of these, like the mem-
bership pledge, are nonstarters for The Pentagon said Tuesday it is still
NATO, creating a seemingly intrac- identifying the roughly 8,500 U.S.
table stalemate that many fear can troops being placed on higher alert
only end in a war. for possible deployment to Europe,
and said that more could be tapped
Moscow has accused Ukraine of if needed. The U.S. is still in “active
massing troops near rebel-controlled consultation” with allies about the ca-
regions to retake them by force — ac- pabilities they might need, said press
cusations Kyiv has rejected. secretary John Kirby.
Analysts say Ukraine’s leaders are As part of a new $200 million in se-
caught between trying to calm the curity assistance directed to Ukraine
nation and ensuring it gets sufficient from the United States, a shipment
assistance from the West in case of an including equipment and munitions
invasion. arrived Tuesday in Ukraine, accord-
ing to Deputy Defense Minister
“Ukrainian authorities are trying to Hanna Maliar.