WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - The U.S. administration approved $200 million in additional defensive security assistance to Ukraine in December, a senior State Department official told reporters Wednesday traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  

Blinken arrived in Ukraine as he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the start of a hastily arranged diplomatic push to defuse the growing crisis.

 The United States claims Russia is ready to attack Ukraine at “very short notice”, warning the country is facing an “unprecedented threat”.

Blinken will also meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Friday in Geneva.

The development comes after U.S.-based news outlets widely cited four anonymous administration officials as saying last week that the Washington had deliberately approved the military assistance to Kiev in late December but did not notify the Congress until later in January, and that other American officials learned about the decision through classified channels.

The remarks also coincided with insistence by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Moscow would not engage in further talks with Washington and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance over Ukraine unless the West responds properly to its security demands.

Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday, Lavrov reiterated that Russia wanted answers on its security proposals before engaging in further discussions about the Ukraine crisis.

 

‘Stop Speculations About 

Moscow Allegedly Preparing to Invade Ukraine’

 

On Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow urges the United States to stop spreading speculations about Russia’s allegedly impending invasion of Ukraine.

“The Russian side demanded to stop ... speculating about some impending Russian aggression,” Zakharova told the Solovyov Live show on YouTube, RIA Novosti reported.

In recent months, the Western media, as well as state officials, have been circulating allegations that Russia is plotting an invasion of Ukraine; deploying “up to 100,000 troops” to the border.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected the allegations, adding that it has the right to move its troops within its borders as needed. Russia has also pointed to the fact that NATO has been increasing its military presence close to the Russian border and providing financial assistance as well as weapons to Kiev.

Also on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it is impossible to switch off the Nord Stream 2 project as gas deliveries have not started yet,  adding that this kind of situation has a negative impact on European consumers.

“Russia is regularly, daily threatened by someone. The commercial international project Nord Stream 2 cannot be turned off, because it has not yet been turned on,” Peskov told reporters when asked about German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s statement on the possibility of switching off the project in case of escalation in Ukraine.

Peskov went on to say that the situation in Ukraine is tense and additional deliveries of weapons there may escalate it further.