U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Thursday morning that the U.S. has seen signs of Russia moving toward an “imminent invasion” of Ukraine.
What she said: “Our goal is to convey the gravity of the situation. The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving towards an imminent invasion,” she said, according to CNN.
- The U.S. is currently doing “everything we can to prevent a war,” she added.
Driving the news: Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, tweeted Thursday that Eastern Ukraine’s Stanytsia Luhanska village was “shelled with heavy weapons” from the Donbas, an occupied territory.
- A kindergarten school was reportedly damaged in the attack.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addressed the reports Thursday morning, saying the U.S. is monitoring the situation, according to Fox News.
- “Russia continues building up their military presence along Ukraine’s borders including in Crimea, in Belarus and in the Black Sea,” he said.
- “In many ways this brings Russian troops right up to NATO’s doorstep,” he added.
Flashback: Russia said Tuesday that Russia would withdraw troops back to base after finishing major military exercises on Ukraine’s border, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
- However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he doubted Russia’s words about withdrawal, saying “various statements are constantly being made from the Russian Federation, so we already have a rule: “Do not hear and then believe. But do see and then believe.”