WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken warned Thursday that Russia “is preparing to launch an attack” against Ukraine, echoing earlier comments from U.S. and Western officials who said an invasion could come any day and that Moscow would seek to use disinformation to create a pretext for such an assault.
“The most immediate threat to peace and security is Russia’s looming aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken said during an impromptu stop at a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss developments in Ukraine. “The stakes go far beyond Ukraine. This is a moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people.”
Even though Western officials have said they were holding out hope for diplomacy, their dire rhetoric on Thursday, as well as actions taken by the Kremlin, underscored a sense that a conflict was inevitable and imminent. The State Department on Thursday said Russia expelled the second-most senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. And President Joe Biden reiterated to reporters on Thursday morning assertions made by administration officials over the last week that there was a “very high” probability of Russia attacking its western neighbor, perhaps in “the next couple of days.”
