US President Joe Biden said in a statement that they would not accept Moscow’s “red lines” as concerns about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine increased.
Biden added that they will make it “very, very difficult” for Russia to invade its neighbor.
According to the reports in the US press, intelligence officials are worried that such an invasion will begin in the first months of 2022.
Ukraine, on the other hand, announced that it has recently sent new soldiers to the Russian border and increased the number of soldiers in the region to 94 thousand.
A phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Biden is expected this week to ease tensions.
Biden said he expected his meeting with his counterpart to take a long time and that no one would accept his red lines.
While Biden did not explain what steps the US plans to take, US and Ukrainian officials have made statements this week that more sanctions may be imposed on Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met with the US Secretary of State on Thursday, also announced that the US was threatening them with further sanctions.
According to a report in the Washington Post, US intelligence officials are worried that the Kremlin is planning an invasion with 175,000 troops on multiple fronts in the first months of next year.
Increase in propaganda activities
Authorities also state that Russia increased its propaganda activities to smear Ukraine and NATO before the invasion.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov says the most likely time for Russia to act is the end of January.
British Chief of Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, whose term expired on 30 November, said in a statement to the BBC that it was necessary to be vigilant, that he did not really want to go to war with Russia, but that it was imperative that NATO be prepared for such a possibility.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine have been strained for years. Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014.
It is estimated that 14 thousand people lost their lives in clashes with separatist groups in eastern Ukraine.
The President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelenski, has recently made moves against Russian interests and imposed sanctions on a powerful businessman close to Putin, and banned three television channels that broadcast pro-Russian broadcasts.