Lower-level Russian tactical commanders have been given orders consistent with orders to invade Ukraine, U.S. officials tell ABC News.
A top European Union official, Charles Michel, said:"The big question remains: does the Kremlin want dialogue?"
But in Lugansk, the area of eastern Ukraine where her parents still live, and neighboring Donetsk, separatist leaders ordered a full military mobilization and sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the rebel-held territories. Claims that Russian citizens are being endangered might be used as justification for military action.
U.S. President Joe Biden said late Friday that based on the latest American intelligence, he was now"convinced" that Putin has decided to invade Ukraine in coming days and assault the capital. "Up to the last minute, there is still an option for him to pull back," Blinken told NBC's Meet the Press. He said his offer to meet Lavrov in Europe in the coming days was conditioned on Russia not rolling into Ukraine beforehand.
"When tension is escalated to the maximum, as it is now, for example, on the line of contact, then any spark, any unplanned incident or any minor planned provocation can lead to irreparable consequences," Putin' spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview that aired Sunday on Russian state television.
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