Invasion could come within a few days, diplomats say after White House holds situation room meeting
, but there is a prevailing belief that any military intervention ordered by Putin would be designed to achieve regime change in Kyiv. That could see a lightning attack, aimed at encircling Kyiv, with the intention of forcing the collapse of President Zelenskiy’s government, and trying to install a pro-Russian regime without urban warfare.
Accounts from German officials on “Normandy format” talks in Berlin between Russian, Ukrainian, German and French officials had been difficult and offered no prospects of defusing tensions. The head of the foreign affairs committee in the Bundestag, Michael Roth, a former minister, said on Twitter: “Russia has effectively annexed Belarus militarily. What are being called “exercises” is really the encirclement of Ukraine, and a concrete threat to Poland and the Baltic States. The situation remains dangerous.”
Wallace that Russia’s deployment of forces gave it a range of options including an invasion, and added “it was vital not to allow room for a miscommunication or miscalculation”.
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