As Ukraine crisis deepens, Blinken leads new talks: Live news | Conflict News
US secretary of state arrives in Kyiv to meet President Zelenskyy, as fears grow of imminent Russian invasion.
The US’s top diplomat is beginning a hastily arranged diplomatic push to defuse the crisis over Ukraine and prevent what Washington and its allies fear may be an imminent Russian invasion.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Wednesday, before meeting with allies in Berlin on Thursday. On Friday, he will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Geneva, Switzerland.
Blinken’s trip aims to emphasise US support for Ukraine and impress the need for de-escalation on neighbouring Russia, which has massed troops along the shared border.
Moscow has rejected accusations from Washington and Kyiv that it has driven the crisis, instead blaming the US-headed NATO alliance for undermining the region’s security.
Here are all the latest updates:
Russia can attack Ukraine at ‘very short notice’, Blinken says
Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine’s borders means President Vladimir Putin can order an attack on Ukraine at very short notice, Blinken tells diplomats at the US Embassy in Kyiv.
“We know that there are plans in place to increase that [Russian] force even more on very short notice, and that gives President Putin the capacity, also on very short notice, to take further aggressive action against Ukraine,” he said.
Blinken added that he strongly hopes Russia can stick to a diplomatic and peaceful path amid the crisis.
Washington: Russia could attack ‘at any point’
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the crisis has reached a stage where “Russia could at any point launch an attack in Ukraine”.
“What Secretary (of State) Blinken is going to go do is highlight very clearly there is a diplomatic path forward,” Psaki told reporters at a regular press briefing, citing his trip to Europe.
She accused Putin of creating the crisis by massing 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders and said it was up to him to decide whether to invade and then “suffer severe economic consequences”.
Lithuania: Russian troops in Belarus ‘destabilising factor’
Russian troops arriving in Belarus – for what Moscow and Minsk claim will be joint military exercises – are further “destabilising” the region’s security situation, NATO member Lithuania’s defence minister says.
“In the current situation, we consider the entry of Russian military forces into Belarus not only as a destabilising factor of the security situation, but also as an even greater direct threat to Lithuania,” Arvydas Anusauskas wrote on Facebook.
Blinken lands in Kyiv
The US secretary of state lands at the Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, as he begins his diplomatic trip in Europe.
Blinken was greeted by Ukrainian officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik, on an icy moonlit tarmac as he disembarked. He will later meet with Zelenskyy.
