Russian President Vladimir Putin is “as prepared as possible” for a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, with “about 100%” of the necessary military forces already in place, according to a senior US government official.
A Defense Ministry official, who asked not to be identified, said Putin “has close to 100 percent of the forces we calculated could be deployed” to invade Ukraine.
According to the source, 80% of more than 150 thousand Russian soldiers Located on the Ukrainian border “in the order of battle”, organized in the formation of an attack a few kilometers from the border.
The Russian official warned that the Russian president was “as prepared as possible,” adding that the decision “to move forward or not is in Putin’s hands.” He indicated that they could start at any time.
On Tuesday (22), a US President Joe Biden has even claimed that the invasion has “begin”But his government officials reported that they still had independent evidence of Russian troop movements into Ukrainian territory.
“We cannot confirm that the Russian army has indeed moved to Donbass,” the Defense Ministry official explained. However, he said, “we have reason to believe that they are indeed present” in the separatist lands of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The US military relies on surveillance aircraft to monitor its opponents’ military operations, but weather conditions can hamper visibility.
