Amid rising tensions, the United States is closing its embassy in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and relocating operations 340 miles west to Lviv.
Background: For weeks, Russian troops have been mounting on the border of Ukraine on the brink of invasion. New reports estimate approximately 130,000 Russian troops are prepared to invade.
Russia has threatened to invade its neighbor unless Vladimir Putin is given assurances that Ukraine will not be admitted to the European Union (EU) or The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the future.
As tensions have continued to rise and Russia has bolstered its troops, the U.S. has called for Americans, including diplomats, to immediately leave Ukraine.
What Happened: The State Department ordered the destruction of networking equipment and computer workstations and the dismantling of the embassy telephone system, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter and internal communications reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
These moves render the Kyiv embassy inoperable as a diplomatic facility.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalenskyy said he believes Russia will invade this week.
“We are told that February 16 will be the day of attack. We will make it a union day,” he said. “The decree has already been signed. This [Wednesday] afternoon, we will hang national flags, put on blue-yellow ribbons, and show the world our unity.” (per Fox News)
Experts had speculated that Russia would wait until the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics before making a move against Ukraine.
On Monday, eight more U.S. F-15 fighter jets have landed in Poland Monday, according to Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak.
Kolejne amerykańskie myśliwce F15 wylądowały dziś w bazie w Łasku. 8 maszyn dołączy do tych, które przybyły do Polski w zeszłym tygodniu. W ramach misji #NATOAirPolicing dbamy o bezpieczeństwo w regionie. pic.twitter.com/Ni9ZmVlS00
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) February 14, 2022
Other Details: On Monday said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz threatened sanctions is Russia invades.
Chancellor Scholz said, “in the event of a military escalation, we are prepared to impose very far-reaching and effective sanctions [on Russia] in coordination with our allies,” following a meeting with President Zelenskyy.
wpDiscuz
Comrade biden is doing this to deflect . He is willing to risk the lives of our military to try and save his a s s .
I can’t blame Putin on wanting to keep them out of the EU and NATO. I wish we were not in NATO and Biden would stick the EU where the sun doesn’t shine. I think there has to be a better way to do it without invading.
Tyrone – You have a basic misunderstanding of the political situation in Europe – and especially concerning Vladimir Putin. NATO was set up originally to prevent the movement of a very expansionist Soviet Union across all of Europe, which was in shambles right after WW II. This worked, and worked very well, until the Soviet Union collapsed. At the time Vladimir Putin was a KGB officer, and a dedicated Communist. When he finally came to power in modern Russia, he bemoaned the fact the the Soviet Union had collapsed (his own words), and wants desperately to reestablish that system in some form in Russia, with himself in the place of Comrade Stalin.
In the distant past, Russia had reasons to distrust powerful nations on its border – but no longer! The modern NATO alliance is responding the the fact that Putin wishes to expand modern Russia to something resembling the old Soviet empire – crushing the rights and freedoms of all the people therein to his personal will. The Europeans know this, and will resist it. Our support is necessary and vital, if only for guaranteeing that Putin will NOT be able to use nuclear weapons with the US in a NATO force.
Putin is saber rattling – that’s all: but Biden apparently welcomes this as a way to deceive Americans of his utter failures on all fronts, and to say to them, “You should NOT change horses in mid stream – so to speak.
Indeed. This is what I tried to tell a Greek friend singing Putin;s praises: ‘And he is Orthodox!’ Orthodox-Schmorthodox. The leopard changeth not his spots. Vlad is old KGB officer, like the Stasi and fanatical like the Waffen SS. Of course he laments the fall of the old Soviet Union, the meaning of which flies over the heads of most college kids today. But some of us invested years of our lives combating the Soviet menace.
Vladimir Putin thinks he is Lord and Master of Ukraine and able to dictate what Ukraine can join or not join! He must think everyone will yield to his will! Time for Ukrainians to tell him to bug off to Moscow and stay there!
Wow, Putin and John Kennedy must think alike then. Kennedy saber rattled when Russia tried to base missiles in Cuba. The US was not happy with Russians near our border, so why should Putin want NATO right on his border? Eastern Ukraine is populated by mostly Russians anyway. This is saber rattling. Russia normally has upwards of 100,000 troops along that border as they do military exercises in that area. Nothing new, it’s been going on for years. That’ why the president of Ukraine made the statement a couple weeks ago that this was being blown out of proportion by Biden’s administration and the western press. The mostly left media would like nothing more than war to break out there. It deflects from their man, Biden’s handling of domestic problems and also gives them all kinds of news to keep reporting on. The MSM are the most corrupt I’ve ever seen in my 70 years! This is all smoke and mirrors from the Biden administration to deflect from his abysmal record on everything. Last time Biden was in office we sent Ukraine blankets as support when Crimea was annexed, now we send them a few tanks and close our diplomatic embassy? That only escalates tensions by taunting Putin. Germany imposing far reaching sanctions? All Putin has to do is stop the flow of energy to Europe to get his way, he doesn’t need to invade anywhere. The Nordstrom 2 pipeline will make him even stronger. Thanks sleepy Joe!
Biden is willing to start WW three to try and deflect from his failures. With weakening our military and his squishy demeanor he will probably surrender us to Russia.
47 years Joe Biden has been in government politics and he did not learn a damn thing what a waste of American taxes
What infuriates me the most is the old phux like him, Pelosi, Durbin, Schummer, etc have gotten much, much more radical as they have gotten older. Or may I say to accept really radical ideas. People I KNOW have gotten more conservative as they have gotten older. Shame, shame on them, pure evil.
Joe Biden (and his handlers) will do ANYTHING to distract the interests of the American people away from his total (and continuing) failure of the first year of his administration. He will even place American military in harm’s way, and kill a lot of civilians in the bargain to cover his despicable administration and its effects.
Putin is not concerned about Wannabe president Joe Biden