Pentagon spokesman: Time is 'shrinking' in diplomatic efforts with Russia
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby says that time is "shrinking" when it comes to finding a diplomatic resolution to the alleged Russian military buildup at the Ukrainian border. Moscow has rejected the US claims that it is preparing to invade Ukraine.
The Pentagon spokesman was asked on Sunday if recent diplomatic efforts by the US and its allies were a "last-ditch" effort to find a solution to the possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"I don't know if I say last-ditch, but certainly we recognize the time component here seems to be shrinking. And that gives us all cause for concern," Kirby said.
"But again, we've said it and we still believe it today that there is still a time and a space for a diplomatic path forward," he added. "We still believe that there's a way to de-escalate the tensions here find a peaceful way out of this so that a war in Ukraine can be averted."
This comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday threatened Russia's foreign minister with a "resolute, massive, and united Transatlantic response" should the country decide to invade neighboring Ukraine.
Blinken’s threat came after the United States announced it will deploy 3,000 additional soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to Poland as part of NATO’s military buildup in eastern Europe, a move that is likely to increase further tensions with Russia.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday ordered the US troops be sent to Poland, increasing the number of American forces deployed to and repositioned to eastern Europe to 6,000.
This comes in an environment of massively heightened tensions, an intensive anti-Russian propaganda campaign by Washington, and deployment of forces and equipment throughout most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and three former Soviet republics that have joined NATO, with at least two others (Georgia and Ukraine) not yet admitted as formal members but who are involved in military cooperation, including hosting military assets, with the US and NATO.
Biden administration officials claimed Russia has assembled 110,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and is preparing for a "large-scale" invasion of the country, as the Biden administration keeps sending troops to eastern Europe to increase NATO military buildup there.
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