Newsman: Moscow announced Friday that its military would conduct massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces this weekend. And a new report says Russia’s military buildup could involve as many as 190,000 troops.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee Saturday’s exercise, which will involve multiple practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the Defense Ministry said, adding the exercises had been planned in advance.
“This is the most significant military mobilization in Europe since the Second World War,” the U.S. envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Ambassador Michel Carpenter said at a meeting of the regional security organization in Vienna Friday.
The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
A group of international monitors tasked with keeping the peace reported more than 500 explosions in the the 24 hours ending Thursday midday, around four times as many as an average day over the past month. Shells struck by the hundreds along the tense front lines in eastern Ukraine, drones monitoring a fragile cease-fire lost their way when the GPS signal they rely on was jammed, and then the cellphone network went dark.
“The gradual fraying of the cease-fire … has regrettably accelerated,” Yaşar Halit Çevik, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday. He said daily cease-fire violations had doubled since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile diplomacy continued over tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine, as Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are in Munich for a three-day security conference, at which efforts to diffuse the crisis in eastern Europe were concurrent with the program.
On Friday, the vice president met with the leader of NATO and is scheduled to talk with Baltic state leadership.
“Our alliance and commitment to NATO is enduring,” Harris said.
On Russia, she said, “We remain open to and desirous of diplomacy,” she continued, noting there will be “severe consequences” for Moscow should it go forward with an invasion.
Blinken will meet with foreign ministers from Germany, France and the UK.
In Washington, President Joe Biden will have a call with Transatlantic leaders on Friday afternoon about Russia’s buildup and diplomatic avenues that remain open to prevent an invasion of Ukraine, according to a White House official.
Blinken to meet Lavrov
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet his Russian counterpart in Europe late next week, said State Department spokesperson Ned Price in a statement.
“The Secretary noted in his remarks at the UN Security Council today that, because we believe the only responsible way to resolve this crisis is through diplomacy and dialogue, he had proposed to meet Foreign Minister Lavrov in Europe next week,” Price said.
“The Russians have responded with proposed dates for late next week, which we are accepting, provided there is no further Russian invasion of Ukraine. If they do invade in the coming days, it will make clear they were never serious about diplomacy. We will continue to coordinate with our Allies and partners and push for further engagements with Russia through the NATO-Russia Council and OSCE,” the statement concluded.
