Way back in 2015 a conflict resolution agreement was pulled off by Germany and France; it helped in halting the exhaustive battles for some time. However, regular tussles had continued and efforts to come to a diplomatic settlement had stopped.
Russia and Ukraine have been in constant skirmishes since 2014 when Kremlin-supporting President Yanukovych was ousted from his position. He had rejected the Ukrainian-European Association Agreement which had sparked off a Ukrainian Revolution in 2014.
Putin retaliated by annexing Crimea and had cushioned a separatist insurgency in Eastern Ukraine where about 14000 lives were claimed.
Russia clamours the West to keep Ukraine and former USSR countries out of NATO membership. It urges NATO to withhold from deploying armaments close to the border and to repudiate allied forces from Eastern Europe – these prerequisites were rejected by the West.
US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are to hold a high-level diplomatic call today as pressure mounts over an imminent Ukraine invasion. The US ordered all its American embassy personnel to evacuate the Capital city of Ukraine, Kyiv.
Even before Putin has a word with Biden, he is to speak with Emmanuel Macron who had met him in Moscow last week. As it is global news that Russian troops have amassed close to the Ukrainian border and have now ventured into its neighbouring Belarus; Putin tenaciously denies planning any offensive move towards Ukraine.
Pentagon foreseeing the crisis has sent an additional 3,000 US troops to Poland re-establishing its alliance.
According to a confidential source (name withheld on request) the US has intelligence that Russia has decided the target date to be the coming Wednesday although the personnel aware of the matter in complete anonymity said he would not be able to say how absolute the intelligence was and White House openly stated that it does not know for sure whether Russia was planning an attack.
US officials confirm that Putin has increased his defensive technology offensive of air, land and sea near Ukraine and in no time he might make a move.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s adviser for national security ordered all Americans to evacuate from Ukraine. He also told them to expect the least from the US military for rescue operations should the railways and airways operations be barred after Russia makes a move.
NATO allies Britain, Canada, Norway, and Denmark have already requested their people to evacuate Ukraine, so did the non-NATO member New Zealand. Sullivan forecasted that Putin will have its military to start with air and missile attacks followed by land offensive attacks.
Russia ridiculed the US for its urgent talks. “The hysteria of the US is more evident than ever”, said Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
