Pentagon spokesman: It is not clear what Putin is thinking

A Pentagon spokesman said Saturday in response to a reporter’s question that, given the current situation between the United States and Russia, what might provoke the Russian president.

Kirby replied: “It is not really clear what is going on in Putin’s mind.” At present, we believe that he has not yet decided on any attack or invasion of Ukraine, but now the Russian president has much more options and capabilities than in the past two weeks.

“Putin continues to increase the number of his ground forces around Ukraine and Belarus, and has operated a significant number of ships in the Mediterranean and Atlantic,” he said.

A Pentagon spokesman said Putin had “many options” but that he hoped the president would choose “diplomacy.”

According to the Hill website, John Kirby explained that some of Moscow’s demands, including Ukraine’s non-membership in NATO, are outside Putin’s domain, adding that there are other issues that the United States is ready to work with Russia.

A Pentagon spokesman said it was not up to Putin to decide whether to join NATO or not. Putin can not easily overthrow their rule. There are principles that we are not willing to compromise on.

“But when we started negotiations with Russia, we were ready to put proposals on the table based on reciprocity,” Kirby said. For example, we were willing to reduce the size and scope of our military exercises in continental Europe. But it also required Russian retaliation. They refused to do so. We do not block the dialogue. The State Department has made it clear that there is still room for diplomacy, we have to see where these talks end.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky, meanwhile, has dismissed US efforts by Russia and his European allies to portray the tense and critical situation between Russia and Ukraine as underestimating Washington’s assessment of Russia’s imminent invasion.

According to Politico, the Ukrainian president showed this reaction after a phone call with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, which the media believed was tense, in which Zelensky rejected Biden’s idea of ​​a Russian threat and rejected the Western media. It has accused the citizens of Ukraine of undermining the government and creating economic madness throughout Ukraine.

According to IRNA, US President Joe Biden announced that he would send troops to Eastern Europe as tensions between Washington and NATO escalated with Russia over Ukraine.

Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said 8,500 US troops were on standby.

A Pentagon spokesman said the move was aimed at preparing forces to ensure our strengthening and alliance with NATO, and that no order had been issued yet.

At the same time as the escalation of tensions over Ukraine, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Millie announced that we will continue to provide military assistance to Kiev along with other NATO countries.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed that a possible Russian attack on Ukraine would be “terrible” and would result in heavy casualties.

At the same time, the US Secretary of Defense acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet made a final decision on the use of these forces against Ukraine.

Lloyd Austin also claimed, but now Putin has acquired that ability. He has many options, such as the conquest of large cities and regions or political and provocative measures such as the recognition of secession from Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of an attack on Ukraine, saying it has no plans to attack any country. Moscow has also warned that NATO actions near its borders pose a threat to national security and reserves the right to arbitrarily move troops into its independent territory.

Residents of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine have established two self-proclaimed republics, Donetsk and Luhansk, since 2014, and have formed local governments independent of the Ukrainian government.

Western countries and Kiev have recently made claims about a possible Russian “invasion” of Ukraine. Moscow called the allegations “absurd” and described them as a ploy to escalate tensions, noting that Russia had not posed a threat to anyone.

Russia has repeatedly called on the Ukrainian government to negotiate with representatives of the two regions to reach an agreement and resolve disputes, but Kiev denies accusing Moscow of supporting and encouraging separatists and negotiating with representatives of these regions.