U.S. President Joe Biden considers the threat of war very high. The United States presented the UN with possible scenarios under which Russia could justify an attack on Ukraine.
The crisis in eastern Ukraine and on the Russian-Ukrainian border has escalated near its boiling point. We’ve put together four things for this story that have been talked about at the events on Thursday.
1. According to the United States, Russia is looking for an excuse for the attack
The United States believes Russia is currently looking for an excuse to attack Ukraine to justify it. The country’s Secretary of State opened the views of the United States to the UN Security Council. The excuse could be a violent incident or an absurd accusation, a so-called terrorist bombing in Russia, a staged civilian drone attack, the use of a chemical weapon, ethnic cleansing or genocide.
Russia expelled two American diplomats from its Moscow embassy. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, they were deported for no apparent reason. One of them was the deputy chief of the U.S. embassy.
2. Russia made strict demands
Russia responded in writing to U.S. proposals to calm the situation and published the letter on its website.
It denies intentions to attack Ukraine. The reply reiterates that NATO’s expansion into Ukraine or other former Soviet countries is a “crossing the red line” for Russia. Russia is demanding the withdrawal of US troops from Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, the cessation of arms supplies to Ukraine and the withdrawal of arms already exported.
If the United States continues to ignore these demands from Russia, it will feel compelled to take “military technical action.”
3. The West and Russia disagree on the withdrawal of troops
Russia accuses Western leaders of hysteria.
Russia has said it is withdrawing its troops stationed near Ukraine’s borders. The Americans say there is no evidence of this.
Instead, Russia is said to have only strengthened its forces further. According to Maxar Technologies, a company that sells satellite images, the satellite images show that Russia has withdrawn some of its troops, but at the same time brought new equipment and a new field hospital has appeared in Belarus, among others, and blood stores are being filled.
4. The media report the exchange of shots
In Eastern Ukraine, an exchange of shots was reported on Thursday between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army. The parties accused each other of attacks with heavy weapons and gun violations.
In Russian state media, separatists blamed Ukrainian forces for grenade launchers at settlement centers. The allegations were made by the separatist regime in the Luhansk region, which is in fact a Russian-run regional administration that has seceded from Ukraine. Ukrainian armed forces denied the allegations. According to Ukraine, on the contrary, the separatists attacked their positions.
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