The US and its allies will “respond decisively” if Russia invades Ukraine, President Joe Biden has told Vladimir Putin in a phone call.
Mr Biden told his counterpart the US remains prepared to engage in diplomacy despite the build up of 100,000 Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, but was “equally prepared for other scenarios”.
He added that the US and its allies would “impose swift and severe costs on Russia” in the event of invasion.
The two leaders spoke for more than an hour on the crisis after a build up of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine and intelligence suggesting Moscow could stage an invasion.
On Friday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned that US intelligence showed a Russian invasion could begin within days, and before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on 20 February.
The Biden administration has been warning for weeks of the potential for war, but had previously said the Kremlin could wait until after the Games to not antagonise China.
The Russian president told Mr Biden that the US response to Russia’s security demands had not taken into account key concerns and the West had not put enough pressure on Ukraine to abide by the Minsk agreements.
Kremlin official Yuri Ushakov said the phone took place against a backdrop of “hysteria” in the West over a Russian invasion, describing it as absurd.
It comes after British nationals in Ukraine were warned to leave the country “immediately by any means possible”.
Junior defence minister James Heappey said on Saturday that British troops who are in Ukraine training local forces will depart this weekend and that Britons remaining in the country should not expect military evacuation.
Mr Heappey told Sky News: “British nationals should leave Ukraine immediately by any means possible and they should not expect – as they saw…
Source : skynews
