President Joe Biden said Thursday that there is a "very high" risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and that could happen within "several days."
Speaking at the White House, Biden said the United States saw no signs of a claimed Russian withdrawal of forces along its border with Ukraine. He said the US has "reason to believe" that Russia is "engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in."
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He told reporters in Washington: "Every indication we have is they're prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine."
A US Embassy spokesman told a Russian news agency Thursday that Russia has expelled the deputy chief of the US mission in Moscow.No details were given of why Bart Gorman was expelled. The State Department confirmed the expulsion, calling it unprovoked.
The move comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the US, fueled by fears that Moscow plans to invade Ukraine.
Spokesman Jason Rebholz told the state RIA Novosti news agency that Gorman was second in command in the US Embassy in Moscow and had an open visa. He spent less than three years in Moscow, the report said.
At a heated Security Council meeting US and Russia sparred over the recent developments, which included attacks on a kindergarten in eastern Ukraine – blamed on pro-Russian rebels and which Kiev called "a big provocation". The meeting came just hours after the expulsion of the deputy US ambassador in Moscow, which the White House said was unprovoked.
During the meeting at the Security Council, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined to the council what he said were possible scenarios Russia could create to justify an invasion.
"This could be a violent event that Russia will bring on Ukraine or an outrageous accusation that Russia will level against the Ukrainian government," Blinken said.
"It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia, the invented discovery of a mass grave, a staged drone strike against civilians, or a fake - even a real – attack using chemical weapons. Russia may describe this event as ethnic cleansing, or a genocide."
Blinken said his mission was to avert war and he would like Russia to join this effort. "So let me make this simple. The Russian government can announce today with no qualification, equivocation or deflection, that Russia will not invade Ukraine. State it clearly, state it plainly to the world and then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes back to their barracks and hangars and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table. In the coming days the world will remember that commitment, or the refusal to make it. I yield the floor."
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