The Pentagon warned that Russia has amassed sufficient military assets along the Ukrainian border to launch an invasion at any moment, a build-up that has given the Kremlin a “range of options”, including an attack aimed at occupying the entire country.
The assessment, made on Friday by Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, came as Russian President Vladimir Putin said Washington’s response to the Kremlin’s security demands were inadequate, raising new questions over whether the diplomatic channel to resolving the stand-off had closed.
Taken together, the warnings from Washington and Moscow appeared to put both Nato and the Russian military closer to a war footing. Although the US and the Atlantic alliance have said they will not commit troops to Ukrainian soil if Russia attacks, some allies have been hurriedly arming the US-backed Ukrainian military.