A U.S. official said today that United States intelligence has learned that Russian front-line military officials were given an order to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine.
Name plates for White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines were also visible in a photo of the meeting, shared by The White House on Twitter Sunday afternoon.
"Now they're justifying the continuation of 'exercises' that they said would end now, the continuation indefinitely of those 'exercises' on the situation in eastern Ukraine, a situation that they created by continuing to ramp up tensions," Blinken added. The new estimate includes pro-Russian separatists inside Ukraine, the Russian National Guard and Russian troops in Crimea, which were not counted in previous assessments. A U.S. military officialthat an estimated 40% to 50% of the ground forces surrounding Ukraine had moved into attack positions closer to the border.
Blinken, the nation’s top diplomat, said that Biden is willing to talk to Putin “at any time, in any format” in order to prevent war. French President Emmanuel Macron held a nearly two-hour call with Putin on Sunday before speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On Sunday, Zelenskyy pressed for a cease-fire in a Twitter post and called on Putin Saturday to meet in an attempt to resolve the crisis.
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