MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Russia has sent new forces to its border with Ukraine and could launch an invasion at any time, including during the Winter Olympics, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
The Winter Olympics are held in Beijing until February 20.
Washington will continue to “reduce” its embassy in Ukraine and has renewed its appeal to American citizens there to leave the country immediately, added Antony Blinken.
“To put it simply, we continue to see very disturbing signs of escalation on the Russian side, including the arrival of new forces at the Ukrainian border,” the secretary of state told a press conference in Melbourne.
“As we’ve said before, we’re in a window where an invasion could start at any time, and to be clear, that includes the Olympics.”
Russia, which has massed troops on its border with Ukraine, denies Western accusations that it intends to invade the former Soviet republic.
On Thursday, Britain warned that the “most dangerous moment” in the standoff between the West and Moscow seemed imminent as Russia staged military drills in Belarus and the Black Sea.
(Report Humeyra Pamuk, Kirsty Needham, French version Lou Phily, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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