US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said today, Sunday, that the United States is likely that Russia may take a military step against Ukraine within days.
“We believe that Russia has prepared the capabilities necessary to launch a major military operation against Ukraine,” Sullivan said in statements carried by the “Archyde.com” news agency.
He continued, “The Russian attack may be in more than one form, either by seizing Donbass, or a full-blown or cyber attack, and if Russia invades Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 gas project will not proceed.”
Russia accelerates preparations to invade Ukraine
under shadow Escalation between Moscow and the West over UkraineAccording to a US intelligence report, Russia is accelerating its preparations to invade Ukraine, according to US media reports.
The US intelligence report predicted the fall of Kiev in two days.
American reinforcements arrive in Poland
Meanwhile, the US military announced the arrival of military reinforcements to Poland, in the context of reassuring allies worried about the Russian-Ukrainian tension.
And the army revealed in a statement, Saturday, that General Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Division, arrived in Poland.
“Our Corps presence is intended to bolster US forces in Europe and demonstrates our commitment to our NATO allies and partners,” Matt Visser, a spokesman for the division’s 18th Airborne Corps, said in a statement.
To deter Russian aggression
He also added that the Eighteenth Corps includes combat-experienced forces “ready to enhance the Alliance’s ability to deter and defeat Russian aggression.”
For his part, a spokesman for the Polish army, Brzenislaw Leczynski, told AFP, “The first soldiers have arrived at Jesionka airport” in the southeast of the country, adding that the largest part of the US battalion, consisting of 1,700 soldiers, will arrive “soon.”
He said logistical preparations “began since last week.” On Saturday, a plane carrying soldiers from the US 82nd Airborne Division landed in Yesionka.
3 thousand soldiers
On Wednesday, the United States announced that it was sending an additional 3,000 American troops to Eastern Europe to defend NATO countries “from any aggression”, amid diplomatic attempts to persuade Moscow to withdraw its forces massed on Ukraine’s borders.
The new US forces are added to the 8,500 soldiers that US President Joe Biden put on standby at the end of January to be deployed to the NATO Rapid Response Force if necessary.
The West has accused Moscow since the end of 2021 of mobilizing thousands of soldiers on the borders of Ukraine in preparation for a possible invasion, which Russia denies, stressing that it is only seeking to ensure its security.