Service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces drive a military lorry throughout military workouts in Kharkiv area, Ukraine February 10, 2022.
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy|Reuters
WASHINGTON– President Joe Biden’s nationwide security consultant Jake Sullivan provided a grim description Sunday of what a Russian intrusion of Ukraine may appear like and prompted Americans to leave the nation instantly.
“If there is a military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, it’s likely to begin with a significant barrage of missiles and bomb attacks,” Sullivan stated on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
“It would then be followed by an onslaught of a ground force moving across the Ukrainian frontier,” he stated, including that there would be a considerable variety of civilians captured in the crossfire.
Sullivan stated that in the past 10 days the Kremlin has actually accelerated its remarkable military accumulation along Ukraine’s border. Russia’s existing force posture in the area might “launch a military action very, very rapidly,” he stated.
For months, the U.S. and its Western allies have actually seen a consistent accumulation of Kremlin forces along Ukraine’s border with Russia andBelarus The increased military existence mimics Russia’s playbook ahead of its 2014 unlawful addition of Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, which triggered global outcry and activated sanctions versus Moscow.
Biden, who is investing the weekend at Camp David, talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy onSunday The White House stated throughout the call Biden declared U.S. dedication to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial stability.
The call, which lasted about an hour, follows Biden’s hour-long Saturday call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The president alerted his Russian equivalent that if there is an additional intrusion of Ukraine, Washington and its allies will enforce “swift and severe costs.” Biden stated that while the U.S. stays ready to participate in diplomacy, “we are equally prepared for other scenarios.”
Last month, the Pentagon’s leading authorities alerted that the after-effects of a Russian intrusion of Ukraine would be “horrific.”
“Given the type of forces that are arrayed, the ground maneuver forces, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air forces, all of it packaged together. If that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and it would result in a significant amount of casualties,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. ArmyGen Mark Milley informed press reporters at the Pentagon onJan 28.
“It would be horrific,” included Milley.
Milley, the country’s highest-ranking military officer, stated that Russia’s posture along Ukraine’s border differed from anything he has actually seen throughout his four-decade military profession.
Over the weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin purchased U.S. soldiers who released to Ukraine in 2015 to leave the nation and rearrange somewhere else in Europe.
In November, 160 members of the Florida National Guard, appointed to the 53 rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, released to Ukraine to train with regional forces.
“The Secretary made this decision out of an abundance of caution — with the safety and security of our personnel foremost in mind — and informed by the State Department’s guidance on U.S. personnel in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby composed in a declaration.
“This repositioning does not signify a change in our determination to support Ukraine’s Armed Forces, but will provide flexibility in assuring allies and deterring aggression,” he included.
Meanwhile, the State Department stated Saturday that it would minimize its diplomatic personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to the “bare minimum.”
