Russia-Ukraine crisis: Putin ‘moving forward’ with invasion plans, says Blinken

‘My job as a diplomat is to leave absolutely no stone unturned and see if we can prevent war’

(Getty Images)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’s Face the Nation that the United States believes Russia is “moving forward” with plans to invade Ukraine.

The statement comes as Russia has amassed 150,000 troops, warplanes and equipment on Ukraine’s three sides.

“We’ve seen that with provocations created by the Russians or separatist forces over the weekend, false flag operations, now the news just this morning that the ‘exercises’ Russia was engaged in in Belarus with 30,000 Russian forces that was supposed to end this weekend will now continue because of tensions in eastern Ukraine, tensions created by Russia and the separatist forces it backs there,” he said.

Mr Blinken’s words come as world leaders met in Munich to try to come up with a diplomatic solution to the conflict, most recently in Munich, where Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the economic consequences for Russia if it were to invade Ukraine.

It also comes as President Joe Biden has said he is “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to attack Ukraine.

“My job as a diplomat is to leave absolutely no stone unturned and see if we can prevent war, and if there's anything I can do to do that, I'm going to do it,” Mr Blinken said.

“President Biden has made very clear that he's prepared to meet President Putin at any time in any format if that can help prevent a war. Even if the dye is cast, until it's settled, until we know that the tanks are rolling, the planes are flying, and the aggression has fully begin, we're going to do everything we can to prevent it but we're prepared either way.”