MOSCOW (TASS) – The speculation of Western countries about how many days Kiev can fall in the course of a potential Russian invasion is madness and scaremongering, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Sunday.
“Madness and scaremongering continue. <...> What if we would say that U.S. could seize London in a week and cause 300K civilian deaths? All this based on our intelligence sources that we won’t disclose,” Polyanskiy said in a Twitter post. “Would it feel right for Americans and Brits? It’s as wrong for Russians and Ukrainians”.
Concerns over Moscow’s alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have been increasingly announced in the west and in Ukraine recently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated the statements as an empty and groundless escalation of tension, emphasizing that Russia posed no threat to anyone.
At the same time, the Kremlin press secretary said provocations are made to justify such claims and warned that the attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by force would carry extremely serious consequences.
The Washington Post, citing a U.S. military and intelligence assessment, reported on Saturday that “Russia could seize Kyiv in days and cause 50,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine.”
Biden administration officials claimed Russia has assembled 110,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and is preparing for a “large-scale” invasion of the country.
The Washington Post, which is considered close to sources at the CIA, reported on Thursday that, according to people “familiar with the matter,” the Biden administration is set to reveal an alleged Russian plan whose details have been declassified by American intelligence.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed the Post report and accused Russia of planning to create a pretext to invade Ukraine.
“We do have information that the Russians are likely to want to fabricate a pretext for an invasion,” Kirby told reporters.
“One option is the Russian government, we think, is planning to stage a fake attack by Ukrainian military or intelligence forces against Russian sovereign territory, or against Russian speaking people, to therefore justify their action,” he added.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has sent more than 100 special forces advisers to Kiev to train and aid the Ukrainian military as tensions rise over Ukraine, the British newspaper Mirror reported on Sunday, citing a military source.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. and its allies of deliberately designing a scenario to lure Moscow into a war over Ukraine.
The Russian president said at a recent news conference in Moscow on Wednesday that the United States was trying to pull Russia into an armed conflict over the thorny issue of Ukraine.
Putin has said that, among other things, Washington is seeking a confrontation with Moscow as a pretext to impose more sanctions on Russia, a particular focus since the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Europe.