Vladimir Putin has officially ordered Russian commanders to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine, a new report claims.
They are said to be now ‘making specific plans for how they would maneuver in their sectors of the battlefield’.
The claims come from intelligence sources in the US, as told to CBS News.
Fears of an invasion have been intensifying for weeks as 150,000 Russian soldiers line up close to Ukraine borders.
The Russian president oversaw massive nuclear drills, including multiple practice missile launches, this week.
Russian armoured tanks painted with a letter ‘Z’ and huge convoys are moving towards the Ukraine border, reports from the area have suggested.
The UK accused Mr Putin of orchestrating ‘false flag’ attacks to make it appear as if Ukraine is being aggressive, amid explosions in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow would likely begin an invasion with a cyber-assault before launching missile and airstrikes as troops take cities and towns, it’s believed.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any intention to attack, accusing the West of creating an ‘artificial crisis’.
But US President Joe Biden said on Friday he is ‘convinced’ Russia is preparing to order troops into Ukraine within days.
Boris Johnson agrees with this conclusion, and has called on his Russian counterpart to ‘engage in serious diplomatic conversation’ to prevent a ‘sheer cost in human life’.
The PM said today even a joint mission by the UK and the US to prevent Russian state-linked firms from trading in pounds and dollars may ‘not be enough on its own’ to halt a war.
‘We have to accept at the moment that Vladimir Putin is possibly thinking illogically about this and doesn’t see the disaster ahead’, he said.
‘The fact is that all the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun.
‘That’s what our American friends think and you’re seeing these provocations now in Donbas – these explosions and so on – that we’ve been warning about for a long time.
‘The plan that we’re seeing is for something that could be the biggest war in Europe since 1945 just in terms of sheer scale.’
Dmitry Polyanskiy, the first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, was asked on Sky News’ Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme whether Mr Putin is ‘enjoying’ the international spotlight.
He replied: ‘I think that “enjoying” is not the right word that you can use in these circumstances when we can see absolutely the lack of responsibility on behalf of Western leaders right now, and a lot of scaremongering and warmongering. I don’t know anybody who is enjoying this situation in Russia.’
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