UK says Putin ‘highly likely’ to attack Ukraine

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 23 Feb 2022 10:20PM · 0 Comments

This handout video grab released by the Russian Defence Ministry on February 19, 2022, shows a Russian paratropper during a joint exercise of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of an inspection of the Union State's Response Force, at the Obuz-Lesnovsky firing range near the city of Baranovichi in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Moscow, said on February 17, 2022 that his country would be ready to welcome nuclear weapons in the event of a threat from the West, in the midst of a crisis in Ukraine. – AFP pic, February 23, 2022.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin is highly likely to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and attack Kiev, UK foreign minister Liz Truss said today.

The UK and US have repeatedly over the last weeks cited intelligence as indicating that Russia is planning an invasion of Ukraine.

“We think it’s highly likely that he (Putin) will follow through on his plan for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine”, Truss told Sky News.

Asked if the Russian leader would move on the capital Kiev, she said: “We think it’s highly likely that that is in his plans.”

While Putin has said he is sending troops, “we don’t yet have the full evidence that has taken place”, Truss said, calling the current situation “ambiguous”. 

Truss held frosty talks earlier this month with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday announced the first tranche of UK sanctions targeting five Russian banks and three billionaire oligarchs.

Truss said today that the UK needed to “retain some sanctions in the locker” and had “more individuals that we will target in the event of a full-scale invasion”. – AFP, February 23, 2022.

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