Putin’s build-up of forces on Ukraine border is biggest since Cold War says US’s top general
Putin’s build-up of forces on Ukraine border is biggest since Cold War says US’s top general as Russia considers full invasion, economic warfare and cyberattacks
Top US general Mark Milley has called the Ukraine border force build up the biggest since the Cold WarThe US Defense Secretary also expressed concern that Putin could utilise other means beyond an invasion But Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused the West of creating a ‘panic’ around the tensions
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A top US general has called the force build-up on Ukraine’s border the biggest since the Cold War and could ‘result in a significant amount of casualties’ if they were all unleashed.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Pentagon yesterday, Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley told reporters Russia‘s conflict with Ukraine feels ‘larger in scale’ than tensions in recent years.
He said: ‘It does feel different in terms of what we’ve seen in the past of Russian exercises, et cetera.
General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, answers questions from reporters. He has called the force build-up on Ukraine’s border the biggest since the Cold War
A Russian military vehicle prepares to drive off a railway platforms after arrival in Belarus
Troops disembark from a Chinese military helicopter during joint war games held by Russia and China held in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwestern China last August
Russian rocket launchers fire during military drills near Orenburg in the Urals, Russia last month
‘This is larger in scale and scope and the massing of forces than anything we have seen in recent memory, and I think you’d have to go back quite a while into the Cold War days to see something of this magnitude.
‘They do annual exercises and we watch those closely but this is different.’
General Milley added that while it’s not definite that Russia will go through with an attack, the consequences of offensive action could be devastating.
He said: ‘We don’t think final decisions have been made to conduct any sort of offensive operation into Ukraine by the Russians, and we firmly believe there’s still room for a diplomatic outcome here.
Having said that, given the type of forces that are arrayed – the ground maneuver forces, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air forces – all of it packaged together, if that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and would result in a significant amount of casualties.
Meanwhile Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) accused the West and Washington in particular of creating a ‘panic’ around the border tensions
Russian army’s self-propelled howitzers fire during military drills near Orenburg in the Urals, Russia, last month
A Ukrainian service member fires a next generation light anti-tank weapon (NLAW) supplied by Britain during drills at Ukraine’s International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv in the Lviv region, Ukraine yesterday
Drills in Lviv. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to be excluded from ever joining the Nato security alliance, plus a withdrawal of western troops from Eastern Europe
‘And you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along roads and so on and so forth. It would be horrific. It would be terrible.
‘And it’s not necessary, and we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go here.’
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III also added that there is a concern about Putin’s ‘range of options’ beyond an invasion.
He said: ‘In terms of whether or not he has enough forces to conduct a full-scale invasion, you heard the chairman say earlier that he’s got north of 100,000 troops in the border region.
‘That gives him a number of options, and what he’s done as he’s continued to move troops and resources into the region is increase his options.
‘And so we won’t predict where his decisions will take him, but we remain concerned about the range of options that he could pursue, and we’ll stay focused on this problem set.’
Secretary Austin also urged Putin to ‘do the right thing’, adding: ‘There’s no reason that this situation has to devolve into conflict.
‘He can choose to deescalate, he can order his troops away, he can choose dialogue and diplomacy. Whatever he decides, the United States will stand with our allies and partners.’
Meanwhile Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky accused the West and Washington in particular of creating a ‘panic’ around the border tensions, as he insisted there are no ‘tanks in the streets’, blaming media portrayals of the situations for stirring up hysteria.
In a press briefing with foreign media he yesterday said the current situation, while containing the possibility of escalation, is not ‘more tense than before’, CGTN reports.
He added: ‘We don’t need this panic.’
Boris Johnson is set to issue a direct warning to Putin about the consequences of invading Ukraine.
In a phone call next week the Prime Minister is expected to demand the Kremlin ‘steps back’ from the brink of war in eastern Europe.
Mr Johnson will warn Mr Putin of the unprecedented economic sanctions that will be imposed should he send tens of thousands of troops across the border into his pro-Western neighbour.
And on Monday, government sources said last night, the Foreign Office will announce a tough crackdown on Russian money flowing through the UK.
The development came as President Putin moved thousands of soldiers and surface-to-air missiles to Belarus – where they could launch attacks on Ukraine.
Last night a Downing Street spokesman said Mr Johnson was ‘determined to accelerate diplomatic efforts and ramp up deterrence to avoid bloodshed’.
An announcement on sending additional British military resources to former eastern bloc states and Soviet republics is expected early next week. But the Government will first target Russia’s strategic and financial interests in the UK following heavy criticism.
Vladimir Putin pictured last September. Boris Johnson is set to issue a direct warning to the Russian president about the consequences of invading Ukraine
US diplomatic sources yesterday questioned how effective sanctions could be against oligarchs who support Mr Putin given the estimated £70billion of Russian ‘dirty money’ in London, which officials have dubbed ‘Moscow-on-Thames’.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace are expected to visit Moscow in the coming weeks as Britain continues to spearhead diplomatic and military efforts to support Ukraine, following its provision last week of 2,000 anti-tank weapons.
On Monday the UK will also join discussions at the United Nations Security Council in New York in a bid to apply further pressure on Russia to commit itself to an exclusively peaceful approach to solving the Ukrainian crisis.
In a phone call with French leader Emmanuel Macron yesterday, Mr Putin said the West had ‘ignored’ Moscow’s security concerns over Nato expansion and Ukraine.
The Kremlin wants Ukraine to be excluded from ever joining the Nato security alliance, plus a withdrawal of western troops from Eastern Europe.
A Kremlin spokesman insisted the West’s stance left little room for compromise – but Russia would not start a war.
In a series of tit-for-tat developments yesterday, Russia sent thousands of soldiers and missiles to Belarus while Nato pledged more troops would head East.
Moscow sent troops and hardware on the pretext of holding military exercises next month. But Nato is concerned the men and machinery will be within striking distance of Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
US sources claim Russia is stepping up war plans by shipping blood supplies and other medical materials to the frontline.