(PARIS) — ABC News has learned that disgraced modeling agent and Jeffrey Epstein associate Jean Luc Brunel died by suicide in his prison cell Saturday night in Paris.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to ABC News that Brunel was found dead in his prison cell around 1:00 a.m. local time at La Sante Prison.
Jean Luc Brunel’s lawyers tell ABC News Brunel hung himself.
The prosecutor’s office declined to confirm those details of Brunel’s death.
In December 2020, Brunel was charged with rape of minors over the age of 15 and sexual harassment — a crime in France.
In a statement on their client’s death which was in French and sent to and translated by ABC News, Brunel’s lawyers said: “[Brunel’s] distress (despair) was the one of a 75-year-old man who was destroyed by the judicial-media lynching and we should question it. Our client firmly asserted he never abused any women. He made multiple efforts to prove it.”
“His decision was not led by a feeling of guilt but by a deep feeling of injustice,” Brunel’s attorneys Mathias Chichportich, Marianne Abgrall and Christophe Ingrain added.
A delegate from the Force Ouvriere Union for France’s Penitentiaries, Erwan Saoudi, further confirmed Brunel’s death.
Saoudi said the prison’s procedure are that prison guard conduct five check on prisoners every night. Saoudi said while there was no closed-circuit TV inside Brunel’s cell — video in prison corridors proves that prison guards did not miss any of these checks.
Saoudi said Brunel died by suicide just after the guard round [of checks] “which shows the strong will of Jean-Luc Brunel to kill himself.” Saoudi added that Brunel was not on suicide watch.
Brunel was initially arrested in Charles De Gaulle Airport in December 2020. According to Paris prosecutors, Brunel was initially held in a probe into the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation in association with their probe into possible crimes committed by Epstein. Days later, Brunel was charged with rape of minors over the age of 15 and sexual harassment. Brunel maintained he was innocent.
In January 2021, Virginia Giuffre flew to Paris to provide testimony at a closed-door hearing on Brunel’s detention.
Giuffre, in the same court filing in 2014 in which she first accused Prince Andrew of sexually assaulting her, claimed to have been trafficked by Epstein and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell to Brunel.
“The suicide of Jean Luc Brunel, who abused me and countless girls and young women, ends another chapter. I am disappointed that I was not able to face him in a final trial and hold him accountable for his actions, but gratified that I was able to face him in person last year in Paris, to keep him in prison,” Virginia Giuffre said in a statement issued though her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley.
Brunel had denied Giuffre’s allegations.
ABC News’ James Hill contributed to this report.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also reach the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741741.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some troops have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian forces have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 18, 10:52 am
Putin warns of ‘escalation’ in Donbas, urges Ukraine to negotiate with separatists
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that the situation in eastern Ukraine is escalating, amid fears Moscow is seeking a pretext to attack its ex-Soviet neighbor.
“Unfortunately, right now we are seeing, on the contrary, an escalation of the Donbas situation,” Putin said at a joint press conference in Moscow on Friday, following a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin reiterated Russia’s demand that the Ukrainian government engage in direct talks with the Russia-backed separatists in Donbas, a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine.
“All Kyiv has to do is sit down at the negotiating table with Donbas representatives and agree on the political, military, economic and humanitarian measures to end the conflict,” he said. “The sooner it happens the better.”
Russia has demanded for years that Kyiv negotiate with the separatists directly, but Ukraine has always refused because it views them as Kremlin puppets and it would legitimize Moscow’s false narrative that the ongoing conflict is exclusively a civil war and does not involve Russia.
Putin also stated that the United States and other members of NATO “are not disposed to properly accept” Russia’s key demands for security guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull its troops back from Eastern Europe. He said Moscow will not accept talking about the other proposals the U.S. has put forward without discussing these top requests.
“We are prepared to follow a negotiating track, on the condition that all aspects are considered in a package, not separately from Russia’s principal proposals, whose implementation is an unconditional priority for us,” he told reporters.
Putin also said he “paid no attention” to the reports in Western media of Feb. 16 being the alleged date of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine that U.S. officials had given, calling it a “hoax.”
“I honestly just didn’t pay attention to it. There are plenty of hoaxes. Constantly reacting to them is more trouble than it’s worth,” he added. “We do whatever we see fit and will do so further down the road. Of course, we watch what is going on in the world and around us. But we have clear and comprehensible guidelines that correspond with the national interests of the people of Russia and the Russian state.”
Meanwhile, Lukashenko insisted that neither Belarus or Russia want a war and blamed the current tensions on the West. He said the massive joint military exercises currently being held in Belarus with Russia are directed at reinforcing their borders due to “growing military danger,” which he claimed was caused in part by Western countries “pumping Ukraine” with weapons.
“With the military danger growing on our borders and Ukraine being pumped with weapons, Belarus and Russia are forced to look for appropriate ways to repel potential attacks,” Lukashenko told reporters.
But the Belarusian leader also warned that, for the first time in decades, Europe is on the edge of a conflict that could “draw in almost the entire continent.”
“You see that it does not depend even on our neighbors, including Ukraine, anymore. It is also obvious to you who the exacerbation of tensions near our borders depends on,” Lukashenko said. “For the first time in decades, we have ended up on the verge of a conflict, which, unfortunately, is capable of drawing in almost the entire continent, like a vortex.”
“Today, we’re witnessing, in all its glory, irresponsibility and, forgive my frankness, the stupidity of a number of Western politicians,” he added, “and the behavior denying logic and reasonable explanations of the leaders of our neighboring states and their downright morbid desire to walk right on the edge.”
Feb 18, 9:55 am
Blinken: US ‘deeply concerned’ Russia ‘has embarked on’ wrong path
The United States is “deeply concerned” that Russia “has embarked on” the wrong path, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.
Speaking to reporters at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Blinken said Russia has deployed “additional forces” near neighboring Ukraine, “including leading edge forces that would be part of any aggression.” When asked about the reports of more shelling in eastern Ukraine, Blinken said it’s “part of a scenario that is already in play” for Moscow to claim a pretext for invasion.
“Even as we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure that this diplomatic path, that this has to resolved — differences have to be resolved through dialogue, through diplomacy,” Blinken told reporters, “we are deeply concerned that that is not the path that Russia has embarked on and that everything we’re seeing, including what you’ve described in the last 24 to 48 hours, is part of a scenario that is already in play of creating false provocations, of then having to respond to those provocations and then ultimately committing new aggression against Ukraine.”
Still, Blinken said he remains “hopeful” that the threat of sanctions and the supply of military aid to regional allies from the U.S. and others “will have an impact.”
Feb 18, 9:40 am
Russia-backed separatists announce mass evacuations
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have declared a mass evacuation of civilians, while accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of preparing to launch a full-scale invasion against the breakaway regions in the coming days.
Ukraine has immediately denied the claim, but the mass evacuation order is worrying as it raises the prospect the separatists may allege a Ukrainian offensive in the coming days that Russia would use as a pretext to attack its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas, delivered a public address to residents on Friday saying mass, centralized evacuations were now being organized, with women, children and the elderly going first.
Pushilin said the evacuation would be “temporary” and that Russia has agreed to provide evacuation centers in the neighboring Rostov region to house evacuees. The separatists’ leader also called on all able-bodied men to take up arms.
“I again appeal to all men able to hold a rifle in their hands, to come to the defense of their land,” Pushilin said in a televised address.
The announcement came amid a sharp escalation along the front line between Russia-backed separatist forces and Ukrainian government troops, with Ukraine accusing the separatists of unleashing a major bombardment in the past two days. Heavy firing has been reported since Thursday coming from the separatist areas, while the separatists have accused Ukrainian troops of firing on them.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 18, 8:40 am
US envoy: Russia has up to 190,000 forces, including separatists, menacing Ukraine
The United States believes Russia now has “probably” as many as 190,000 troops, including Russian-backed separatists forces, according to a U.S. envoy, in and around Ukraine amid fears that Russian capabilities of a full-fledged invasion continue to grow.
“We assess that Russia probably has massed between 169,000 to 190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine as compared with about 100,000 on January 30,” Michael Carpenter, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a statement Friday. “This estimate includes military troops along the border, in Belarus, and in occupied Crimea; Russian National Guard and other internal security units deployed to these areas; and Russian-led forces in eastern Ukraine.”
Unlike this latest assessment, previous estimations by U.S. officials did not include separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
“While Russia has sought to downplay or deceive the world about their ground and air preparations, the Russian military has publicized its large-scale naval exercises in the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and the Arctic,” Carpenter said. “Russia has publicly said the Black Sea exercise alone involves more than 30 ships, and we assess that amphibious landing ships from the Northern and Baltic Fleets were sent to the Black Sea to augment forces there.”
The OSCE is a Cold War-era European security forum that has deployed a war monitor in eastern Ukraine for years and hosted talks on the current crisis with Russia. Its foundational documents have been used selectively by Moscow to paint Ukraine and NATO as a threat to Russia’s security, even as its envoy in Vienna has largely dismissed dialogue there.
Earlier this week, Ukraine requested an emergency OSCE meeting to demand Russia explain its massive military buildup after Moscow ignored Kyiv’s inquiry. Russia skipped Wednesday’s session just as it did Friday’s, where Carpenter delivered these remarks.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told his country’s parliament Friday that they assess Russia has about 149,000 troops near their borders.
-ABC News Conor Finnegan and Cindy Smith
Feb 18, 7:45 am
US to sell Poland $6 billion of tanks, more military aid
The United States announced Friday its plans to sell $6 billion of new military aid to Poland, amid the threat of war between neighboring Ukraine and Russia.
The proposed sale includes 250 Abrams main battle tanks, 250 short-range jamming systems that counter improvised explosive devices, 26 combat recovery vehicles, nearly 800 machines guns and much more, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of State.
The announcement came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw to discuss concerns regarding the massive buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials say position Moscow for an imminent invasion. Poland is a key eastern European ally to the U.S. and a fellow member of NATO.
“Some of those forces [are] within 200 miles of the Polish border,” Austin said during a joint press conference in the Polish capital on Friday. “If Russia further invades Ukraine, Poland could see tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians and others flowing across its border, trying to save themselves and their families from the scourge of war.”
Austin said the U.S. now has an additional 4,700 troops in Poland “who are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies.”
“They will work closely with our State Department and with Polish authorities should there be any need to help American citizens leave Ukraine,” he added.
The planned sale of more military aid to Poland “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” according to the State Department.
“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations,” the State Department said in a statement Friday. “Poland will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 18, 6:21 am
Kremlin expresses concern about escalation in Donbas
Russia is concerned about the ongoing escalation of tensions in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and believes the events unfolding there post a major potential threat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“What is happening in Donbas is very disquieting news, which provokes concern,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “It is potentially very dangerous.”
When asked how Putin has been sleeping amid the rising tensions, Peskov said: “Equally well.” He then added after a brief pause: “But with one eye open.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 18, 5:56 am
Putin to oversee massive nuclear drills on Saturday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee massive drills of his country’s strategic nuclear forces on Saturday, including test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the drills were “planned” as part of large-scale military exercises currently taking place across Russia. Saturday’s drills are meant to check “the preparedness of military commands and crews of missile systems, warships and strategic bombers to accomplish their missions and at verifying the reliability of weapons of strategic nuclear and conventional forces,” according to the defense ministry.
“The exercise will involve forces and hardware belonging to the Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern Fleet, and the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will be at the defense ministry’s Situational Center during the drills Saturday and that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko might join him.
“Even test launches of this type are impossible without the head of state,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call Friday. “You all know about his famed ‘black briefcase,’ ‘the red button’ and so on.”
Peskov said the drills shouldn’t cause concern among other countries because they were notified of the upcoming exercises in advance.
When asked whether such drills could exacerbate tensions, Peskov replied: “Exercises and training launches of ballistic missiles are quite a regular training process. It is preceded by a whole series of notifications forwarded to different countries via various channels. All this is precisely regulated and no one has any questions or concerns.”
The drills will also coincide with the finale of the major joint military exercises in neighboring Belarus.
U.S. military officials have previously warned that Russia could conduct these drills now, saying the timing might be in order to signal to the West not to interfere in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It’s also another opportunity for posturing as Putin has done many times before, placing himself at the end of demonstrations of military might. In recent years he has repeatedly hailed a range of new Russian nuclear super weapons, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile and hypersonic weapons.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 18, 4:25 am
Lukashenko to meet Putin in Moscow
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, as their countries continue to hold massive joint military exercises that Western countries fear could be used to cover up preparations for a possible invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
While Russia and Belarus have said that Russian troops will leave after the drills conclude Sunday, the United States remains concerned they may stay.
Earlier this week, Lukashenko indicated that he and Putin would decide at their meeting Friday how long Russian troops would stay in Belarus. Video released by Belarusian state media showed the authoritarian leader arriving at Moscow’s airport Friday morning.
Russia has moved an unprecedented number of troops into Belarus as part of its wider military build-up near Ukraine. There is an estimated 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which is only a few hours drive north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Concerns have been heightened because Russia has moved most of the troops from its Eastern Military District in Russia’s Far East, some 6,000 miles away. Among them are many units required for an offensive, including long range artillery, fighter bombers, attack helicopters and airborne troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some troops have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian forces have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 18, 7:45 am
US to sell Poland $6 billion of tanks, more military aid
The United States announced Friday its plans to sell $6 billion of new military aid to Poland, amid the threat of war between neighboring Ukraine and Russia.
The proposed sale includes 250 Abrams main battle tanks, 250 short-range jamming systems that counter improvised explosive devices, 26 combat recovery vehicles, nearly 800 machines guns and much more, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of State.
The announcement came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw to discuss concerns regarding the massive buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials say position Moscow for an imminent invasion. Poland is a key eastern European ally to the U.S. and a fellow member of NATO.
“Some of those forces [are] within 200 miles of the Polish border,” Austin said during a joint press conference in the Polish capital on Friday. “If Russia further invades Ukraine, Poland could see tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians and others flowing across its border, trying to save themselves and their families from the scourge of war.”
Austin said the U.S. now has an additional 4,700 troops in Poland “who are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies.”
“They will work closely with our State Department and with Polish authorities should there be any need to help American citizens leave Ukraine,” he added.
The planned sale of more military aid to Poland “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” according to the State Department.
“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations,” the State Department said in a statement Friday. “Poland will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 18, 6:21 am
Kremlin expresses concern about escalation in Donbas
Russia is concerned about the ongoing escalation of tensions in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and believes the events unfolding there post a major potential threat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“What is happening in Donbas is very disquieting news, which provokes concern,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “It is potentially very dangerous.”
When asked how Putin has been sleeping amid the rising tensions, Peskov said: “Equally well.” He then added after a brief pause: “But with one eye open.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 18, 5:56 am
Putin to oversee massive nuclear drills on Saturday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee massive drills of his country’s strategic nuclear forces on Saturday, including test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the drills were “planned” as part of large-scale military exercises currently taking place across Russia. Saturday’s drills are meant to check “the preparedness of military commands and crews of missile systems, warships and strategic bombers to accomplish their missions and at verifying the reliability of weapons of strategic nuclear and conventional forces,” according to the defense ministry.
“The exercise will involve forces and hardware belonging to the Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern Fleet, and the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will be at the defense ministry’s Situational Center during the drills Saturday and that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko might join him.
“Even test launches of this type are impossible without the head of state,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call Friday. “You all know about his famed ‘black briefcase,’ ‘the red button’ and so on.”
Peskov said the drills shouldn’t cause concern among other countries because they were notified of the upcoming exercises in advance.
When asked whether such drills could exacerbate tensions, Peskov replied: “Exercises and training launches of ballistic missiles are quite a regular training process. It is preceded by a whole series of notifications forwarded to different countries via various channels. All this is precisely regulated and no one has any questions or concerns.”
The drills will also coincide with the finale of the major joint military exercises in neighboring Belarus.
U.S. military officials have previously warned that Russia could conduct these drills now, saying the timing might be in order to signal to the West not to interfere in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It’s also another opportunity for posturing as Putin has done many times before, placing himself at the end of demonstrations of military might. In recent years he has repeatedly hailed a range of new Russian nuclear super weapons, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile and hypersonic weapons.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 18, 4:25 am
Lukashenko to meet Putin in Moscow
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, as their countries continue to hold massive joint military exercises that Western countries fear could be used to cover up preparations for a possible invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
While Russia and Belarus have said that Russian troops will leave after the drills conclude Sunday, the United States remains concerned they may stay.
Earlier this week, Lukashenko indicated that he and Putin would decide at their meeting Friday how long Russian troops would stay in Belarus. Video released by Belarusian state media showed the authoritarian leader arriving at Moscow’s airport Friday morning.
Russia has moved an unprecedented number of troops into Belarus as part of its wider military build-up near Ukraine. There is an estimated 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which is only a few hours drive north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Concerns have been heightened because Russia has moved most of the troops from its Eastern Military District in Russia’s Far East, some 6,000 miles away. Among them are many units required for an offensive, including long range artillery, fighter bombers, attack helicopters and airborne troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said, and while Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some Russian forces have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian troops have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Latest headlines:
-Austin says Russia forces near Ukraine border stocking up on blood supplies
-Blinken says Moscow will ‘manufacture a pretext’ for invasion as US blames Russia for Donbas shelling
-Blinken calls on Moscow to commit to not invading, meet next week
-Blinken to UN Security Council: ‘I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one’
-Russia’s response to the US teases ‘military-technical measures’
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
Feb 17, 9:22 pm
Senate passes non-binding resolution in support of Ukraine
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Thursday affirming its support for Ukraine.
The resolution denounced Russian troop buildups on the border and urged President Joe Biden to act if Russia were to invade Ukraine. “[The] United States Government should use the tools at its disposal to impose significant costs on the Russian Federation to restore peace in Europe,” it stated.
The non-binding “sense of the Senate” resolution conveys the sentiment of senators, but it does not mandate any action.
The resolution, which passed by voice vote with bipartisan support, follows a bipartisan statement from Senate leaders Tuesday that said “Russia must be made to pay a severe price” in the event of invasion.
The Senate departed for a weeklong recess Thursday night without approving a Russian sanctions package, which was the initial aim of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and Ranking Member Jim Risch.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Feb 17, 7:35 pm
Reports of more shelling in eastern Ukraine overnight
Tensions around the Russian-controlled separatist areas in eastern Ukraine on Thursday remained high, with reports of shelling. Sporadic firing from the separatist side continued to hit the village Stanytsia Luhanska, setting two homes on fire, local police told ABC News. Earlier Thursday, separatist shelling struck a kindergarten in the village, injuring two teachers.
The escalation comes amid concerns from Western officials that Russia and its separatist proxies may be laying the groundwork for a pretext for a possible Russian intervention by accusing Ukraine of preparing to launch an offensive.
Valery Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, warned in a statement Thursday night that the military has information the separatist forces are planning to evacuate several villages near the front line, possibly ahead of a planned escalation in firing.
Zaluzhny also accused the Russian-controlled forces of firing deliberately onto civilian infrastructure and accused Russia and the separatists of using propaganda and disinformation to claim Ukraine is shelling civilians.
He said Ukraine is not planning any offensive operations and is observing a ceasefire.
There was dramatically more shelling Thursday than usual, according to monitoring by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ukraine accused the separatists of violating the ceasefire 47 times, including mainly using large-caliber weapons banned from the front line.
Russian officials continued to claim Thursday that some Russian forces are returning to their home bases and accused the U.S., along with the U.K., Canada and the Baltic nations, of using claims of Russian aggression as a pretext to arm Ukraine.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko
Feb 17, 1:03 pm
Austin says Russia forces near Ukraine border stocking up on blood supplies
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at NATO headquarters in Brussels Thursday, said the U.S. has evidence of Russia stocking up on blood supplies and military forces nearing the border as officials believe Russia will launch an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“We see some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea. We even see them stocking up their blood support supplies,” Austin told world leaders.
“You know, I was a soldier myself not that long ago, and I know firsthand that you don’t do these sorts of things, for no reason. And you certainly don’t do them if you’re getting ready to pack up and go home,” he added.
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned Thursday that, despite claims of pulling back, Russia appears to be ready to invade at any moment.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, as U.S. officials have urged all Americans to immediately leave Ukraine.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some Russian forces have begun to withdraw from near Ukraine’s borders, ABC News learned that Putin had told his military forces to be ready to invade by Wednesday. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Biden said more Russian troops have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims. It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and has demanded the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 17, 11:54 am
Blinken calls on Moscow to commit to not invading, meet next week
Secretary of State Antony Blinken closed his remarks to the U.N. Security Council meeting by challenging the Russian Federation to “announce today — with no qualification of equivocation or deflection — that Russia will not invade Ukraine, stated clearly stated plainly, to the world.”
“And then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes back to their various can hangars and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table,” he added.
Blinken laid out how the U.S. believes Russia will attack Ukraine — but said he would welcome being wrong and for Russia to withdraw.
“Now, I’m mindful that some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out,” he said, apparently referring to a similar address then-Secretary of State Colin Powell famously made to the Security Council presenting U.S. intelligence to justify the Iraq War. “But let me be clear, I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one,” he said, citing allies that agree with U.S. assessments.
“If Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine, then we will be relieved that Russia changed course and proved our predictions wrong. That would be a far better outcome in the course we’re currently on. And we’ll gladly accept any criticism that anyone directs at us,” Blinken said.
He continued, “Russia can still make if there’s any truth to his claim that is committed to diplomacy. Diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this crisis”
Blinken also said that he sent a letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier Thursday proposing that they meet next week in Europe following their talks in recent weeks “to discuss the steps that we can take to resolve this crisis without conflict” and that U.S. is also proposing meetings at the NATO Russia Council and the OSC Permanent Council.
“These meetings can pave the way for a summit with key leaders in the context of de-escalation to reach understandings on our mutual security concerns,” he added.
Feb 17, 11:28 am
Blinken to UN Security Council: ‘I am here today not to start war, but to prevent one’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, changing plans at the last minute to speak at a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, implored the group to unite to address what he called “Russia’s looming aggression against Ukraine.”
“This crisis directly affects every member of this council and every country in the world because the basic principles that sustain peace and security principles that were enshrined in the wake of two World Wars, in a Cold War, are under threat: The principle that one country cannot change the borders of another by force. The principle that one country cannot dictate another’s choices or policies, or with whom it will associate the principle of national sovereignty,” he said.
Blinken repeated that the U.S. and Western allies do not see Russian troops drawing down on the ground, but that, “Our information indicates clearly that these forces, including ground troops, aircraft ships, are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days,” he said.
He said that Russia is already taking steps “down the path to war,” first with its plans to “manufacture a pretext for its attack.”
“This could be a violent event that Russia will blame on Ukraine, or an outrageous accusation that Russia will level against the Ukrainian government. We don’t know exactly what formula. It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia. The invented discovery of the mass grades. A staged drone strike against civilians, or a fake — even a real attack — using chemical weapons,” he said.
He said, then, the would see the “highest levels of the Russian government may theatrically convene emergency meetings to address the so-called crisis.”
“Next, the attack is planned to begin. Russian missiles and bombs will drop across Ukraine. Communications will be jammed. Cyber attacks will shut down key Ukrainian institutions. After that, Russian tanks and soldiers will advance on key targets that have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans,” he said, reiterating the U.S. belief that Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people, is a target.
He added that the U.S. has intelligence “Russia will target specific groups of Ukrainians.”
“Let me be clear,” Blinken said, “I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one.”
Feb 17, 11:08 am
Russia’s response to the US teases ‘military-technical measures’
In a written response on the discussion over Moscow’s demands that NATO not expand, Russia said the U.S. has not given a “constructive reply” to Russia’s demands and that Moscow might resort to “military-technical measures.”
“We can acknowledge that the U.S. side did not give a constructive answer to the basic elements of a draft treaty with the U.S. on security guarantees, drawn up by the Russian side,” the document given to the U.S. on Thursday and translated from Russian by Interfax said. “In the absence of the American side’s willingness to negotiate firm and legally binding guarantees of our security by the U.S. and its allies, Russia will have to respond, including through implementing military-technical measures,” it said.
As the West has warned of Russian misinformation serving as potential for a false flag pretext, the document from the Russian Federation accused the U.S. and allies of spin, instead.
“The package nature of Russian proposals has been ignored, from which ‘convenient’ topics have been deliberately chosen, which, in turn, are ‘twisted’ in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and its allies,” the response said.
“We propose to work together to develop a new ‘security equation,'” it added.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Feb 17, 10:31 am
Zelenskyy visits Ukrainian troops on front line in Donetsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday visited Ukrainian troops on the front line of defense in the Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian government says intense shelling continues.
“I am proud of your heroism,” Zelenskyy told the soldiers. “You defend Ukraine’s independence and decently rebuff the enemy. We feel constant pride in our defenders.”
Earlier Thursday, Zelenskyy had an “urgent” telephone conversation with the head of the European Council, during which he emphasized that Ukraine has seen no evidence of withdrawal of Russian troops from its borders, according to a press release from the Ukrainian president’s office.
Zelenskyy also reported a “significant number” of ceasefire violations by Russian-backed separatists forces in eastern Ukraine, including the shelling of a kindergarten in the government-controlled village of Stanytsia Luhansk, which he called a “large provocation,” according to the press release.
Feb 17, 10:10 am
US accuses Russia of using UN meeting as part of invasion pretext
The Russian mission to the United Nations circulated a 49-page letter Wednesday night that it said included an investigation of atrocities committed by the Ukrainian government in its eastern provinces.
The letter alarmed U.S. officials, who thought it may be part of the false pretext for a Russian invasion that they’ve been publicly warning about for weeks.
“It’s hard to draw any conclusion other than Russia plans to use today’s U.N. Security Council meeting as part of an attempt to establish a pretext for a potential invasion, building upon disinformation and incendiary statements we’ve seen over recent weeks,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday morning.
The letter, obtained by ABC News, includes a document labeled “Joint Project of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and RT News Channel,” which alleges that Ukraine committed war crimes over the last eight years in the Donbas.
“Each of these allegations are categorically false,” the senior administration official said. But they’ve seen a marked increase in them in the past few days and overnight, they added.
But the official stopped short of saying that Russia has fully mobilized to create a false pretext or that an invasion would follow shortly: “The kinds of reports that we’re hearing, the kinds of claims that we’re seeing made in Russian media are exactly the kinds of claims that we have indicated could form the basis of a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine,” they told reporters.
-ABC News’ Conor FInnegan
Feb 17, 9:34 am
Biden says he believes Putin will go through with invasion
President Joe Biden told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega on Thursday morning that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will go through with an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“My sense is this will happen in the next several days,” Biden said.
The president accused Russia of engaging in a “false flag operation” and said that despite the claims of pulling troops back, the Kremlin has actually moved more troops closer to Ukraine’s border.
Feb 17, 9:22 am
Russia insists some troops are returning to base
Russia insisted again Thursday that some troops massed near Ukraine are returning to base, far from the border.
Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that units from the Western and Southern Military Districts, which were stationed in western Russia and Crimea, are now moving back to their permanent bases. He said Russian troops taking part in drills in Belarus will also return to base once they finish the exercises this weekend.
Konashenkov noted that the first units have already arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechnya and Dagestan, hundreds of miles from the border with Ukraine.
Feb 17, 9:07 am
US receives Russia’s response on NATO security guarantees
The United States has received a response from Russia regarding the discussion over Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not expand, a senior official with the U.S. Department of State said Thursday.
“We can confirm that we have received a response from the Russian Federation,” the official said. “It was delivered to Ambassador Sullivan in Moscow today.”
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier Thursday that Moscow was planning to send its formal response to the Washington soon.
Feb 17, 8:30 am
US ambassador to UN: ‘Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned Thursday that Russia appears to be readying for an “imminent invasion” of neighboring Ukraine.
“The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters during a background briefing call. “This is a crucial moment.”
She said that’s why she asked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “to come speak directly to the U.N. Security Council on his way to Munich about the serious situation in Ukraine.”
“Our goal is to convey the gravity of the situation,” she added. “That’s why Secretary Blinken is coming to New York to signal our intense commitment to diplomacy, to offer and emphasize the path toward de-escalation and to make it clear to the world that we are doing everything — everything -– we can to prevent a war.”
Blinken has already boarded his flight to Munich but will be flying to New York City first to address the U.N. Security Council session at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Feb 17, 7:34 am
Lukashenko: Russian troops will stay in Belarus ‘as long as necessary’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russian troops will be in his country for “as long as necessary.”
“As long as necessary, the Russian Armed Forces will be here. This is our land, our territory,” Lukashenko told Belarusian state media. “We are working here, studying and will continue to study.”
Further joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader has said that any decision on recognizing the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas will be made jointly with Russia. He added that this decision will be mutually beneficial.
Lukashenko has also noted that, in his view, if neighboring Ukraine had wanted to end the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, it would have already done so.
Feb 17, 6:25 am
Russia to respond to US on NATO security guarantees
Russia will soon formally respond to the written answers that the United States sent earlier to Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not enlarge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties the Kremlin published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Lavrov was quoted by Russian state media on Thursday as saying that Moscow is planning to send its formal response “today” and that it will be published “several hours after.”
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters Moscow was “still working on” its response and that the reply would not be sent Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his government will continue to insist on discussing its key demands alongside any of the other issues.
Feb 17, 5:50 am
Ukraine accuses Russia-backed separatists of shelling kindergarten
Ukraine accused Russia-backed separatist forces of shelling a village controlled by Ukrainian government troops and hitting a school there early Thursday.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine said separatists fired upon the southeastern village of Stanytsia Luhanska. The head of the community’s local administration confirmed to ABC News that they were under heavy fire on Thursday morning.
The firing has since ceased, the official told ABC News.
Footage released by Ukrainian media shows a hole blown in the wall of a kindergarten. Meanwhile, pro-Russian accounts on social media posted the footage without context, suggesting it was in a separatist-held area and calling it fake.
Russia-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine have accused the Ukrainian military of a major escalation and of preparing for a full-scale offensive. The reports are headline news in most Russian media.
Feb 17, 5:32 am
Russia-backed separatists claim ‘large-scale’ shelling in Ukraine
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed a significant deterioration along the front line with Ukrainian government forces on Thursday, accusing Ukraine of launching “large-scale” shelling of civilian areas in the breakaway regions.
Fears that Russia might use such claims as a pretext to launch an invasion remain high, with Thursday’s allegations out of the ordinary. The Ukrainian government has denied any intention to launch an offensive on the separatist-held areas.
Local authorities in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, in an area of southeastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling nine population centers, using large caliber mortars that are banned by a ceasefire.
The separatists’ military forces issued “emergency statements” Thursday alleging that “the situation along the line of contact has substantially worsened” in recent days. Rodion Leshchenko, a political advisor to the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, accused Ukraine of launching a “massive provocation,” allegedly firing 200 times into Donbas.
For the past few weeks, Russian propaganda and the separatists in Donbas have been laying the groundwork to accuse Ukraine of launching an offensive, claiming that the Ukrainian government has been massing its forces and also alleging to have found evidence of atrocities. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he believes “genocide” has occurred in Ukraine.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, as U.S. officials have urged all Americans to immediately leave Ukraine.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some Russian forces have begun to withdraw from near Ukraine’s borders, ABC News learned that Putin had told his military forces to be ready to invade by Wednesday. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Biden said more Russian troops have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims. It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and has demanded the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 17, 12:20 pm
Blinken says Moscow will ‘manufacture a pretext’ for invasion as US blames Russia for Donbas shelling
As Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the U.N. Security Council Thursday the U.S. believes Russia plans to “manufacture a pretext” for an invasion of Ukraine, such as with false claims of violence by Ukrainians in the country, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv explicitly blamed Russia for the overnight shelling in Donbas in a series of tweets.
“Russia’s shelling of Stanytsia Luhanska in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in Donbas hit a kindergarten, injured two teachers, and knocked out power in the village,” the Twitter statement said. “The aggressor in Donbas is clear — Russia.”
The statement continued: “This attack, as with so many others, is a heinous Russian violation of the Minsk Agreements and again demonstrates Russia’s disregard for Ukrainian civilians on both sides of the line of contact.”
Ukraine has also blamed Russia-backed separatist forces for shelling the village controlled by Ukrainian government troops and hitting a kindergarten there early Thursday.
Russia-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine have, in turn, accused the Ukrainian military of preparing for a full-scale offensive.
Blinken told world leaders to expect this and more, “claims of mass graves, staged drone strikes, a terrorist bombing, or chemical or biological weapons — even the use of those dangerous weapons,” and said that “Russian media have already begun to spread these false alarms.”
The Russian mission to the U.N. circulated a letter overnight that it said included an investigation of atrocities committed by the Ukrainian government, alleging that Ukraine committed war crimes over the last eight years in the Donbas — alarming U.S. officials, who believe it may be part of the false pretext for a Russian invasion they’ve publicly warned about for weeks.
“It’s hard to draw any conclusion other than Russia plans to use today’s U.N. Security Council meeting as part of an attempt to establish a pretext for a potential invasion, building upon disinformation and incendiary statements we’ve seen over recent weeks,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday morning. “Each of these allegations are categorically false.”
As U.S. officials expected, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, speaking ahead of Blinken at the U.N., blamed Ukraine for failing to implement the Minsk agreements, he said, and accusing it of atrocities against civilians in its eastern provinces.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Conor Finnegan
Feb 17, 11:54 am
Blinken calls on Moscow to commit to not invading, meet next week
Secretary of State Antony Blinken closed his remarks to the U.N. Security Council meeting by challenging the Russian Federation to “announce today — with no qualification of equivocation or deflection — that Russia will not invade Ukraine, stated clearly stated plainly, to the world.”
“And then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes back to their various can hangars and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table,” he added.
Blinken laid out how the U.S. believes Russia will attack Ukraine — but said he would welcome being wrong and for Russia to withdraw.
“Now, I’m mindful that some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out,” he said, apparently referring to a similar address then-Secretary of State Colin Powell famously made to the Security Council presenting U.S. intelligence to justify the Iraq War. “But let me be clear, I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one,” he said, citing allies that agree with U.S. assessments.
“If Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine, then we will be relieved that Russia changed course and proved our predictions wrong. That would be a far better outcome in the course we’re currently on. And we’ll gladly accept any criticism that anyone directs at us,” Blinken said.
He continued, “Russia can still make if there’s any truth to his claim that is committed to diplomacy. Diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this crisis”
Blinken also said that he sent a letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier Thursday proposing that they meet next week in Europe following their talks in recent weeks “to discuss the steps that we can take to resolve this crisis without conflict” and that U.S. is also proposing meetings at the NATO Russia Council and the OSC Permanent Council.
“These meetings can pave the way for a summit with key leaders in the context of de-escalation to reach understandings on our mutual security concerns,” he added.
Feb 17, 11:28 am
Blinken to UN Security Council: ‘I am here today not to start war, but to prevent one’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, changing plans at the last minute to speak at a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, implored the group to unite to address what he called “Russia’s looming aggression against Ukraine.”
“This crisis directly affects every member of this council and every country in the world because the basic principles that sustain peace and security principles that were enshrined in the wake of two World Wars, in a Cold War, are under threat: The principle that one country cannot change the borders of another by force. The principle that one country cannot dictate another’s choices or policies, or with whom it will associate the principle of national sovereignty,” he said.
Blinken repeated that the U.S. and Western allies do not see Russian troops drawing down on the ground, but that, “Our information indicates clearly that these forces, including ground troops, aircraft ships, are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days,” he said.
He said that Russia is already taking steps “down the path to war,” first with its plans to “manufacture a pretext for its attack.”
“This could be a violent event that Russia will blame on Ukraine, or an outrageous accusation that Russia will level against the Ukrainian government. We don’t know exactly what formula. It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia. The invented discovery of the mass grades. A staged drone strike against civilians, or a fake — even a real attack — using chemical weapons,” he said.
He said, then, the would see the “highest levels of the Russian government may theatrically convene emergency meetings to address the so-called crisis.”
“Next, the attack is planned to begin. Russian missiles and bombs will drop across Ukraine. Communications will be jammed. Cyber attacks will shut down key Ukrainian institutions. After that, Russian tanks and soldiers will advance on key targets that have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans,” he said, reiterating the U.S. belief that Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people, is a target.
He added that the U.S. has intelligence “Russia will target specific groups of Ukrainians.”
“Let me be clear,” Blinken said, “I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one.”
Feb 17, 11:08 am
Russia’s response to the US teases ‘military-technical measures’
In a written response on the discussion over Moscow’s demands that NATO not expand, Russia said the U.S. has not given a “constructive reply” to Russia’s demands and that Moscow might resort to “military-technical measures.”
“We can acknowledge that the U.S. side did not give a constructive answer to the basic elements of a draft treaty with the U.S. on security guarantees, drawn up by the Russian side,” the document given to the U.S. on Thursday and translated from Russian by Interfax said. “In the absence of the American side’s willingness to negotiate firm and legally binding guarantees of our security by the U.S. and its allies, Russia will have to respond, including through implementing military-technical measures,” it said.
As the West has warned of Russian misinformation serving as potential for a false flag pretext, the document from the Russian Federation accused the U.S. and allies of spin, instead.
“The package nature of Russian proposals has been ignored, from which ‘convenient’ topics have been deliberately chosen, which, in turn, are ‘twisted’ in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and its allies,” the response said.
“We propose to work together to develop a new ‘security equation,'” it added.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Feb 17, 10:31 am
Zelenskyy visits Ukrainian troops on front line in Donetsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday visited Ukrainian troops on the front line of defense in the Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian government says intense shelling continues.
“I am proud of your heroism,” Zelenskyy told the soldiers. “You defend Ukraine’s independence and decently rebuff the enemy. We feel constant pride in our defenders.”
Earlier Thursday, Zelenskyy had an “urgent” telephone conversation with the head of the European Council, during which he emphasized that Ukraine has seen no evidence of withdrawal of Russian troops from its borders, according to a press release from the Ukrainian president’s office.
Zelenskyy also reported a “significant number” of ceasefire violations by Russian-backed separatists forces in eastern Ukraine, including the shelling of a kindergarten in the government-controlled village of Stanytsia Luhansk, which he called a “large provocation,” according to the press release.
Feb 17, 10:10 am
US accuses Russia of using UN meeting as part of invasion pretext
The Russian mission to the United Nations circulated a 49-page letter Wednesday night that it said included an investigation of atrocities committed by the Ukrainian government in its eastern provinces.
The letter alarmed U.S. officials, who thought it may be part of the false pretext for a Russian invasion that they’ve been publicly warning about for weeks.
“It’s hard to draw any conclusion other than Russia plans to use today’s U.N. Security Council meeting as part of an attempt to establish a pretext for a potential invasion, building upon disinformation and incendiary statements we’ve seen over recent weeks,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday morning.
The letter, obtained by ABC News, includes a document labeled “Joint Project of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and RT News Channel,” which alleges that Ukraine committed war crimes over the last eight years in the Donbas.
“Each of these allegations are categorically false,” the senior administration official said. But they’ve seen a marked increase in them in the past few days and overnight, they added.
But the official stopped short of saying that Russia has fully mobilized to create a false pretext or that an invasion would follow shortly: “The kinds of reports that we’re hearing, the kinds of claims that we’re seeing made in Russian media are exactly the kinds of claims that we have indicated could form the basis of a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine,” they told reporters.
-ABC News’ Conor FInnegan
Feb 17, 9:34 am
Biden says he believes Putin will go through with invasion
President Joe Biden told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega on Thursday morning that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will go through with an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“My sense is this will happen in the next several days,” Biden said.
The president accused Russia of engaging in a “false flag operation” and said that despite the claims of pulling troops back, the Kremlin has actually moved more troops closer to Ukraine’s border.
Feb 17, 9:22 am
Russia insists some troops are returning to base
Russia insisted again Thursday that some troops massed near Ukraine are returning to base, far from the border.
Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that units from the Western and Southern Military Districts, which were stationed in western Russia and Crimea, are now moving back to their permanent bases. He said Russian troops taking part in drills in Belarus will also return to base once they finish the exercises this weekend.
Konashenkov noted that the first units have already arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechnya and Dagestan, hundreds of miles from the border with Ukraine.
Feb 17, 9:07 am
US receives Russia’s response on NATO security guarantees
The United States has received a response from Russia regarding the discussion over Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not expand, a senior official with the U.S. Department of State said Thursday.
“We can confirm that we have received a response from the Russian Federation,” the official said. “It was delivered to Ambassador Sullivan in Moscow today.”
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier Thursday that Moscow was planning to send its formal response to the Washington soon.
Feb 17, 8:30 am
US ambassador to UN: ‘Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned Thursday that Russia appears to be readying for an “imminent invasion” of neighboring Ukraine.
“The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters during a background briefing call. “This is a crucial moment.”
She said that’s why she asked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “to come speak directly to the U.N. Security Council on his way to Munich about the serious situation in Ukraine.”
“Our goal is to convey the gravity of the situation,” she added. “That’s why Secretary Blinken is coming to New York to signal our intense commitment to diplomacy, to offer and emphasize the path toward de-escalation and to make it clear to the world that we are doing everything — everything -– we can to prevent a war.”
Blinken has already boarded his flight to Munich but will be flying to New York City first to address the U.N. Security Council session at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Feb 17, 7:34 am
Lukashenko: Russian troops will stay in Belarus ‘as long as necessary’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russian troops will be in his country for “as long as necessary.”
“As long as necessary, the Russian Armed Forces will be here. This is our land, our territory,” Lukashenko told Belarusian state media. “We are working here, studying and will continue to study.”
Further joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader has said that any decision on recognizing the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas will be made jointly with Russia. He added that this decision will be mutually beneficial.
Lukashenko has also noted that, in his view, if neighboring Ukraine had wanted to end the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, it would have already done so.
Feb 17, 6:25 am
Russia to respond to US on NATO security guarantees
Russia will soon formally respond to the written answers that the United States sent earlier to Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not enlarge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties the Kremlin published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Lavrov was quoted by Russian state media on Thursday as saying that Moscow is planning to send its formal response “today” and that it will be published “several hours after.”
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters Moscow was “still working on” its response and that the reply would not be sent Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his government will continue to insist on discussing its key demands alongside any of the other issues.
Feb 17, 5:50 am
Ukraine accuses Russia-backed separatists of shelling kindergarten
Ukraine accused Russia-backed separatist forces of shelling a village controlled by Ukrainian government troops and hitting a school there early Thursday.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine said separatists fired upon the southeastern village of Stanytsia Luhanska. The head of the community’s local administration confirmed to ABC News that they were under heavy fire on Thursday morning.
The firing has since ceased, the official told ABC News.
Footage released by Ukrainian media shows a hole blown in the wall of a kindergarten. Meanwhile, pro-Russian accounts on social media posted the footage without context, suggesting it was in a separatist-held area and calling it fake.
Russia-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine have accused the Ukrainian military of a major escalation and of preparing for a full-scale offensive. The reports are headline news in most Russian media.
Feb 17, 5:32 am
Russia-backed separatists claim ‘large-scale’ shelling in Ukraine
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed a significant deterioration along the front line with Ukrainian government forces on Thursday, accusing Ukraine of launching “large-scale” shelling of civilian areas in the breakaway regions.
Fears that Russia might use such claims as a pretext to launch an invasion remain high, with Thursday’s allegations out of the ordinary. The Ukrainian government has denied any intention to launch an offensive on the separatist-held areas.
Local authorities in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, in an area of southeastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling nine population centers, using large caliber mortars that are banned by a ceasefire.
The separatists’ military forces issued “emergency statements” Thursday alleging that “the situation along the line of contact has substantially worsened” in recent days. Rodion Leshchenko, a political advisor to the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, accused Ukraine of launching a “massive provocation,” allegedly firing 200 times into Donbas.
For the past few weeks, Russian propaganda and the separatists in Donbas have been laying the groundwork to accuse Ukraine of launching an offensive, claiming that the Ukrainian government has been massing its forces and also alleging to have found evidence of atrocities. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he believes “genocide” has occurred in Ukraine.
(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong recorded another record daily high of 6,116 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, as the city battles its worst outbreak since the pandemic began.
Hospitals are overstretched and running out of beds. There are shocking scenes at some of the city’s public hospitals, with dozens of elderly patients out in the cold and wet weather, waiting for hospital beds in makeshift triage areas.
Microbiologist Siddharth Sridhar described Hong Kong’s hospitals as “sandcastles in a tsunami.”
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Thursday that the government will consider rolling out COVID-19 testing for all 7.5 million residents, as soon as enough rapid antigen tests are received from mainland authorities.
Lam was speaking with reporters after welcoming mainland experts who have come to Hong Kong to assist with COVID-containment efforts.
Up until now the city has been a poster child for COVID containment. Hong Kong went without any local cases for months last year. And now — two years into the pandemic — Hong Kongers are questioning why the city wasn’t more prepared for this day to come.
Under a “dynamic zero-infection” strategy, people who test positive cannot currently isolate themselves at home, even if they have mild or no symptoms. As a result, thousands are waiting to be admitted to hospitals or quarantine facilities.
The government is looking at ways to cater for the bottleneck, including the possibility of turning hotels, housing estates and student housing into isolation facilities. There are also talks of building a makeshift mass hospital to cope with the surge, much like the one constructed in 10 days in Wuhan at the very start of the pandemic.
Despite escalating infections in the densely populated city, Lam is doubling down on the city’s no-tolerance approach to the virus.
And the message from Beijing is clear: sort it out.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has told Hong Kong officials to “take all necessary steps” to contain the outbreak — Hong Kong’s social stability, Xi said, is at stake.
Hong Kong is meant to be holding a leadership election next month, and with the covid situation worsening, it’s not clear whether Lam will survive politically. Some lawmakers have suggested that the small-circle election be postponed.
Currently, only about 64% of Hong Kong’s population has received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Rates among the elderly population are less than 30%.
But with temperatures dropping over the weekend and more rain on the way, the outlook is bleak for the city’s most vulnerable residents waiting for hospital space.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will go through with an invasion of Ukraine invasion within days.
“My sense is this will happen in the next several days,” he told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega as he left the White House for a trip to Ohio.
Biden told reporters the threat of an invasion is still “high.”
“They have not moved any of their troops out. They have moved more troops in,” he said. “We have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation, to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they’re prepared to go into Ukraine and attack Ukraine.”
Biden repeated that there is still a path to diplomacy but said he has no plans for a call with Putin.
“That’s why I asked Secretary Blinken to go to the U.N. to make his statement today,” referring to Secretary of State Antony Blinken changing plans at the last minute to address the U.N. Security Council. “He’ll lay out what that path is. I’ve laid out a path to Putin as well … There is a path, there is a way through this.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday said he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin will go through with an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“My sense is this will happen in the next several days,” he told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega as he left the White House for a trip to Ohio.
Biden told reporters the threat of an invasion is “very high.”
“They have not moved any of their troops out. They have moved more troops in,” he said. “We have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation, to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they’re prepared to go into Ukraine and attack Ukraine.”
A senior administration official said Wednesday evening the Kremlin had added about 7,000 troops near the Ukraine border in recent days — “with some arriving as recently as today” — placing the number of Russian forces near Ukraine above the 150,000 figure cited by Biden in an address to the nation Tuesday.
At the same time, Biden repeated there is still a path to diplomacy but said he has no plans to hold a call with Putin.
“That’s why I asked Secretary Blinken to go to the U.N. to make his statement today,” he said, referring to Secretary of State Antony Blinken changing plans at the last minute to address the U.N. Security Council. “He’ll lay out what that path is. I’ve laid out a path to Putin as well … There is a path, there is a way through this.”
Even as Russia delivered its written response Thursday to U.S. and NATO proposals for talks, a senior administration official dismissed Russia’s diplomacy, so far, as disingenuous, to reporters on an earlier call.
“Every indication we have now is that they mean only to pretend to engage in diplomacy, where they publicly offer to talk and make claims about de-escalation — while privately mobilizing for war,” the official said.
For days now, the Kremlin has claimed to be pulling back Russian forces after completing military “exercises,” but U.S. security analysts have said it appears Russian troops are rotating in and growing in number, with the ability to invade Ukraine at any point. Russian leaders, meanwhile, have accused the West of creating “hysteria” over the situation at Ukraine’s border.
The buildup of Russian forces has prompted the biggest concentration of troops in Europe since the Cold War, the NATO secretary-general said Wednesday.
Biden warned Putin in remarks from the White House earlier this week that if Russia invades Ukraine, the U.S. is prepared to respond decisively and in unison with NATO allies.
“If Russia attacks Ukraine, it will be met with overwhelming international condemnation,” Biden said. “The world will not forget that Russia chose needless death and destruction. Invading Ukraine will prove to be a self-inflicted wound. The United States and our allies and partners will respond decisively. The West is united and galvanized.”
Explaining U.S. involvement in the region, Biden told the American people, “this is about more than just Russia and Ukraine.”
“It’s about standing for what we believe in, for the future that we want for our world, for liberty, for liberty, the right of countless countries to choose their own destiny. And the right of people to determine their own futures, or the principle that a country can’t change its neighbor’s borders by force,” Biden said. “If we do not stand for freedom where it is at risk today, we’ll surely pay a steeper price tomorrow.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken telling ABC News Wednesday the U.S. has seen “no meaningful pullback” of Russian forces and that Russian President Vladimir Putin Putin could “pull the trigger” at any point.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday, as U.S. officials have urged all Americans to immediately leave Ukraine.
While Putin and the Kremlin claim that Russia has started to withdraw some troops from near Ukraine’s borders, ABC News has learned Putin had told his military forces to be ready to invade by Wednesday. It remains unclear whether he has made a decision to attack his neighbor. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, celebrated a national “day of unity” Wednesday.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and has demanded the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:
Feb 17, 9:34 am
Biden says he believes Putin will go through with invasion
President Joe Biden told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega on Thursday morning that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will go through with an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“My sense is this will happen in the next several days,” Biden said.
The president accused Russia of engaging in a “false flag operation” and said that despite the claims of pulling troops back, the Kremlin has actually moved more troops closer to Ukraine’s border.
Feb 17, 9:22 am
Russia insists some troops are returning to base
Russia insisted again Thursday that some troops massed near Ukraine are returning to base, far from the border.
Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that units from the Western and Southern Military Districts, which were stationed in western Russia and Crimea, are now moving back to their permanent bases. He said Russian troops taking part in drills in Belarus will also return to base once they finish the exercises this weekend.
Konashenkov noted that the first units have already arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechnya and Dagestan, hundreds of miles from the border with Ukraine.
Feb 17, 9:07 am
US receives Russia’s response on NATO security guarantees
The United States has received a response from Russia regarding the discussion over Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not expand, a senior official with the U.S. Department of State said Thursday.
“We can confirm that we have received a response from the Russian Federation,” the official said. “It was delivered to Ambassador Sullivan in Moscow today.”
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier Thursday that Moscow was planning to send its formal response to the Washington soon.
Feb 17, 8:30 am
US ambassador to UN: ‘Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned Thursday that Russia appears to be readying for an “imminent invasion” of neighboring Ukraine.
“The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters during a background briefing call. “This is a crucial moment.”
She said that’s why she asked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “to come speak directly to the U.N. Security Council on his way to Munich about the serious situation in Ukraine.”
“Our goal is to convey the gravity of the situation,” she added. “That’s why Secretary Blinken is coming to New York to signal our intense commitment to diplomacy, to offer and emphasize the path toward de-escalation and to make it clear to the world that we are doing everything — everything -– we can to prevent a war.”
Blinken has already boarded his flight to Munich but will be flying to New York City first to address the U.N. Security Council session at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Feb 17, 7:34 am
Lukashenko: Russian troops will stay in Belarus ‘as long as necessary’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russian troops will be in his country for “as long as necessary.”
“As long as necessary, the Russian Armed Forces will be here. This is our land, our territory,” Lukashenko told Belarusian state media. “We are working here, studying and will continue to study.”
Further joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader has said that any decision on recognizing the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas will be made jointly with Russia. He added that this decision will be mutually beneficial.
Lukashenko has also noted that, in his view, if neighboring Ukraine had wanted to end the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, it would have already done so.
Feb 17, 6:25 am
Russia to respond to US on NATO security guarantees
Russia will soon formally respond to the written answers that the United States sent earlier to Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not enlarge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties the Kremlin published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Lavrov was quoted by Russian state media on Thursday as saying that Moscow is planning to send its formal response “today” and that it will be published “several hours after.”
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters Moscow was “still working on” its response and that the reply would not be sent Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his government will continue to insist on discussing its key demands alongside any of the other issues.
Feb 17, 5:50 am
Ukraine accuses Russia-backed separatists of shelling kindergarten
Ukraine accused Russia-backed separatist forces of shelling a village controlled by Ukrainian government troops and hitting a school there early Thursday.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine said separatists fired upon the southeastern village of Stanytsia Luhanska. The head of the community’s local administration confirmed to ABC News that they were under heavy fire on Thursday morning.
The firing has since ceased, the official told ABC News.
Footage released by Ukrainian media shows a hole blown in the wall of a kindergarten. Meanwhile, pro-Russian accounts on social media posted the footage without context, suggesting it was in a separatist-held area and calling it fake.
Russia-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine have accused the Ukrainian military of a major escalation and of preparing for a full-scale offensive. The reports are headline news in most Russian media.
Feb 17, 5:32 am
Russia-backed separatists claim ‘large-scale’ shelling in Ukraine
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed a significant deterioration along the front line with Ukrainian government forces on Thursday, accusing Ukraine of launching “large-scale” shelling of civilian areas in the breakaway regions.
Fears that Russia might use such claims as a pretext to launch an invasion remain high, with Thursday’s allegations out of the ordinary. The Ukrainian government has denied any intention to launch an offensive on the separatist-held areas.
Local authorities in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, in an area of southeastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling nine population centers, using large caliber mortars that are banned by a ceasefire.
The separatists’ military forces issued “emergency statements” Thursday alleging that “the situation along the line of contact has substantially worsened” in recent days. Rodion Leshchenko, a political advisor to the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, accused Ukraine of launching a “massive provocation,” allegedly firing 200 times into Donbas.
For the past few weeks, Russian propaganda and the separatists in Donbas have been laying the groundwork to accuse Ukraine of launching an offensive, claiming that the Ukrainian government has been massing its forces and also alleging to have found evidence of atrocities. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he believes “genocide” has occurred in Ukraine.
