U.S. warns of possible Russian invasion of Ukraine

After detecting a large buildup of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border, the United States communicated to its European counterparts the possibility of Russia staging a military occupation as tensions over migration and energy supplies rise, experts say.  

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, called the report Friday "empty and unfounded efforts to exacerbate tensions."  

The U.S. has not yet made available to European governments the information on which its conjectures are based, which is the indispensable preliminary step before a decision is made to mount a joint response.  

However, according to senior administration officials, the U.S. has sufficient evidence publicly available.    

The U.S. was consulting with its European allies Thursday night about the military buildup, according to a White House official. 

Russia, however, claims that the military presence on the territory is due to the country's own internal affairs and rejects any intention of invasion or attack, while pointing to U.S. provocation by sending U.S. warships to sail in the Black Sea near Russian territory.  

A similar case to this one occurred last spring, when Russia again became the focus of attention for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which accused it of gathering some 100,000 troops, tanks and fighter jets, also near the Ukrainian border.    

This crisis was defused after U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to call his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and offer to discuss the case at a specific summit in June. 

The latest known movement of Russian military and tanks into Ukraine triggered a visit to Moscow by Bill Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to discuss the matter by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany, asked Putin last Wednesday to use his influence with Belarus, to stem the influx of migrants from the Middle East, whose aim is to cross the border into Poland to reach the European Union. 

However, Vladimir Putin did not heed the former Chancellor's urging and refused. 

The U.S. warning about Russia's possible invasion of Ukraine comes on top of the most recent conflict between Poland and Belarus, the latter being one of Russia's closest allies.  

It also coincides with uncertainty over increased gas supplies to Europe from Russia, and more, following Alexander Lukashenko's threat to shut down the pipeline carrying Russian gas to the EU if Poland closes its borders, despite the Russian president's promise to increase deliveries this week, ignoring Belarus' threats.  

A person close to the Kremlin has assured that Russia has no intention of starting a war with Ukraine for the time being, although Moscow must prove that it can use force if needed.  

U.S. warnings about Russian intentions have their basis in evidence gathered and in the 2014 annexation of Crimea, an administration official communicated.   

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, told reporters, "Our concern is that Russia could make the grave mistake of trying to repeat what it undertook in 2014."

Russia and Ukraine have remained in conflict since 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea from Russia. . 

"I hope that now the whole world will clearly see who really wants peace and who is concentrating almost 100,000 troops on our border," Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, said in an address to the nation last Wednesday.  

"Russia's psychological pressure does not have an impact on us, our intelligence has all the information, our Army is ready to repel at any time and in any place," he added.