The US on Thursday told the UN Security Council that its information indicates clearly that over 150,000 Russian forces amassed around Ukraine's borders are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine "in the coming days".
"As we meet today, the most immediate threat to peace and security is Russia's looming aggression against Ukraine," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine Thursday.
Blinken, who arrived in New York to address the Security Council before heading for the Munich Security Conference, said over the past months, without "provocation or justification", Russia has amassed more than 150,000 troops around Ukraine's borders.
"Russia says it's drawing down those forces. We do not see that happening on the ground. Our information indicates clearly that these forces including ground troops, aircraft, ships are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days," he said.
Blinken said the stakes in this go far beyond Ukraine and this is a moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people, as well as for the foundation of the United Nations Charter and the "rules-based" international order that preserves stability worldwide.
"This crisis directly affects every member of this Council and every country in the world because the basic principles that sustain peace and security, principles that were enshrined in the wake of two world wars and a Cold War, are under threat," he said.
"The principle that one country cannot change the borders of another by force, the principle that one country cannot dictate another's choices or policies, or with whom it will associate, the principle of national sovereignty. This is the exact kind of crisis that the United Nations and specifically this Security Council was created to prevent," Blinken said.
Earlier in the day, US President Joe Biden also said that America has "every indication" that Russia is prepared to move into Ukraine in the next couple of days.
Both Biden and Blinken's comments came amid heightened tensions between Russia and the US, fuelled by fears that Moscow plans to invade Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied that it has plans to attack Ukraine.
