A Ukrainian government serviceman on the front line in Donetsk. Photo:EPA
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | DECEMBER 6th 2021
With tensions mounting on the border between Ukraine and Russia, the US President Joe Biden is set to join a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in order to discus the potential conflict.
It’s been warned that an invasion force could be launched by Russia by as early as 2022, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said that the United States were in possession of evidence that suggested as much.
It was added that it’s unclear as to whether or not a final decision on such an invasion plan was actually made, although Russia had fervently denied having such intentions and added that they rather suspected Ukraine of gathering their own forces.
Moscow claims this is nothing more than “anti-Russian” hysteria, despite the known mobilisation of tanks and armoured vehicles towards the Ukrainian borders. Ukraine backed up the claims of mounting vehicles, and claimed that there was also a presence of 94,000 troops building along the borders. A move that many suspect, on Russia’s part, is to keep Ukraine out of Nato.
“I think for Putin it's really important. He thinks the West has begun giving Ukraine's elite hope about joining Nato,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst at R.Politik. “The training, the weapons and so on are like a red rag to a bull for Putin and he thinks if he doesn't act today, then tomorrow there will be Nato bases in Ukraine. He needs to put a stop to that.”
Following a meeting set to take place this week between the top US and Russian diplomats, Presidents Biden and Putin will be speaking about the mounting conflicts on Tuesday. According to the White House, to goal is to have President Biden discuss the “US concerns with Russian military activities on the border with Ukraine and reaffirm the United States’ support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
“As we look at the numbers of forces that are in the border region, as we look at some of the things that are occurring in the information space, if you look at what’s going on in the cyber domain, it really raises our concern,” said US defence secretary Lloyd Austin to the Reagan National Defence Forum in California.
