‘Appalling human toll of an invasion’
West still pins hope on diplomacy to avert war – but fears of imminent attack escalates tensions further
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that invading Ukraine would cause ‘widespread human suffering’.
The White House account of yesterday’s crisis call said Mr Biden warned an attack would ‘diminish Russia’s standing’ as the West pinned hopes on diplomacy to avert war. They spoke for around an hour after French President Emmanuel Macron also shared a call with Mr Putin, with fears of an imminent attack heightening. Britain’s foreign secretary Liz Truss has also warned the Kremlin that invading Ukraine would lead to ‘a protracted conflict with an appalling human toll’, as tensions continue to mount in the region.
In a letter to all MPs in Britain, Ms Truss said that she had told Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during her diplomatic shuttle to Moscow on Thursday that the UK ‘stands fully behind Ukraine and its right to self-determination’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned this week that a potential nuclear war could break out if Ukraine is allowed to join Nato.
But Ms Truss said she did ‘not accept the zero sum argument that improving the security of one country harms the security of another, as Russia is claiming’. The foreign secretary wrote of her four hours of talks, ‘I urged Russia to desist from its brazen aggression towards Ukraine, withdraw its troops massing on the Ukrainian border and engage in meaningful talks based on the proposals put forward by Nato. Russia is self-evidently not under a security threat’.
In a stark warning of the potential consequences of military action, Ms Truss said, ‘Ukraine would fight, resulting in a protracted conflict with an appalling human toll’.
It is understood UK parliament will be recalled if there is an invasion next week, while MPs are on recess. The White House said: ‘President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia. Mr Biden told the Russian leader that the US and allies are prepared to engage in diplomacy – but are ‘equally prepared for other scenarios’, the White House said.
Meanwhile British armed forces minister James Heappey warned Russia is in a position to be able to attack ‘very, very quickly’, with an estimated 130,000 troops on Ukraine’s border. But unlike when the Taliban seized Kabul, Mr Heappey stressed that the RAF would not be carrying out evacuations in the event of war in Ukraine. Liz Truss said she discussed her ‘acute concerns’ that Russia ‘may launch further military aggression against Ukraine in coming days’ during a call on Saturday with US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
‘We agree Russia will face massive consequences for any invasion, including severe sanctions,’ said Ms Truss. Western leaders have threatened Moscow with a damaging package of sanctions in the event of a further incursion into Ukrainian soil. Ukraine is not a Nato member and allies in the defence alliance have said they would not join fighting in Ukraine, but have bolstered forces in neighbouring nations and are threatening widespread sanctions.
Although the Kremlin insists it is not planning an invasion, US intelligence suggests Russia could fabricate a ‘false flag’ pretext to attack.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said an attack before the end of the Winter Olympics on February 20 is a ‘credible prospect’.
Yesterday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky also called on Washington to share intelligence which suggests Russia is planning to invade his country on Wednesday. He told the US: ‘If you have 100% certain information about a Russian invasion of Ukraine, please share it with us.’ Intelligence being studied by Mr Biden is said to include the specific routes which might be taken by Russian units.
Yet claims of an imminent Russian invasion were dismissed as an ‘alarmist’ symptom of US ‘hysteria’ by Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
‘The White House’s hysteria is more revealing than ever,’ she said. ‘The provocations, disinformation and threats are their favourite method for resolving their own problems.’ Ms Zakharova also revealed that Russia was reducing
‘An invasion is imminent. This is our Cuban missile crisis moment’
‘There’s a whiff of Munich in the air from some’
diplomatic staff in Ukraine because it feared ‘provocations’ from the Kiev authorities or ‘third countries’.
Defence experts suspect Russia could use the excuse of an ‘attack’ on a pro-Russian area of Ukraine as an excuse to send in troops.
Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee in Britain, branded the crisis ‘our Cuban missile crisis moment’, as he called for Britishled Nato divisions to be in the country. ‘An invasion is imminent. Once that happens, because of the grain that comes out of Ukraine for the world, that will affect food prices. ‘Oil and gas prices will be affected, and European security will then be threatened further. This is our Cuban missile crisis moment.’
Last night, UK defence secretary Ben Wallace dismissed last-minute Western diplomatic efforts to stop Russian aggression as effective appeasement, saying there was a ‘whiff of Munich in the air’.