WASHINGTON – U.K.UK officials are expected to visit NATO headquarters next week to finalize details of a security package proposal, which will include more troops, fighter jets and warships.
The British ambassador to Washington said Johnson was expected to address Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and would visit the region in the coming days. Secretary of Defense in the U.K. Ben Wallace is also expected to meet with NATO allies in Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia this week.
“This package could send a clear message to the Kremlin – we will not tolerate their debilitating work, and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face of Russia’s hatred,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in a statement Sunday evening.
“If President Putin chooses bloodshed and destruction, it will be a disaster for Europe. “Ukraine must have the freedom to choose its own future,” he added.
The U.K. it currently has more than 900 British troops based in Estonia, more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers and about 150 soldiers in Poland.
The airline HMS Prince of Wales is currently waiting to depart within a few hours in case of tensions.
Last week, the US Pentagon imposed 8,500 US servicemembers on a “raised warning” to send to Europe if NATO opens up its response capabilities. The military represents the US contribution to the 40,000-strong NATO Response Force, or NRF, whose operation requires the approval of all 30 NATO members.
US President Joe Biden has not committed himself to sending US troops directly to Ukraine but instead to neighboring NATO countries.
For months, Western countries have been watching the strong formation of Kremlin forces along the Ukrainian-Russian border with Belarus. The military expansion mimics Russian movements before its 2014 occupation of Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea, which sparked international unrest and sparked a series of sanctions against Moscow.
The Kremlin has denied that deployment was a prelude to the attack and has instead described the movement as a military one.
Top Pentagon officials warned on Friday that the outcome of the Russian invasion of Ukraine would be “very serious.”
“Considering the type of armed forces, ground forces, weapons, missiles, air forces, all put together. If that was introduced in Ukraine, it would be important, very important, and could lead to a large number of casualties and you can imagine what that might look like in densely populated areas, on all streets, and so on and so forth. , ”Said Joint Chiefs of Staff US Army General Mark Milley.
“It could be very bad,” added Milley, the country’s highest-ranking military official.
Milley said Russia’s stance on the Ukrainian border was unlike anything he had seen during the fourteen years of war. He said the Russians had sent airplanes, navy, special forces, cyber electronic warfare, command and control, material engineers and other skills to the Ukrainian border.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, speaking on Milley’s behalf, called on Moscow to reduce tensions by removing Russian troops and military equipment from the border.
“Conflict is inevitable. There is still time and space to negotiate, ”Austin said.
“[Putin] would prefer to be demoted. He can command his troops to go. He can choose dialogue and diplomacy. Whatever he decides, the United States will stand by our partners and our partners. ”
Pentagon warnings came as Russian President Putin reviewed US defense defense proposals submitted by John Sullivan, the US ambassador to Russia. Russia initially offered a cold response to the proposals.
“We will therefore be waiting for the Russian government to respond and evaluate our written responses,” Sullivan told reporters Friday from the US Embassy in Moscow. “And as Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted, I would expect there to be a discussion or even a meeting. But I do not know if it has been agreed upon yet. ”
Russia demanded that the US “establish military bases” in the territories of any Soviet state that was not a member of NATO, or “use its infrastructure in any military operations or improve bilateral military cooperation with it.”
Russian officials have also called on the US to block the eastward rise of the NATO military alliance.
Since 2002, Kyiv has sought to join NATO, the world’s largest military alliance.
The US and NATO say such a request cannot be granted.
Last week, Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a second call this month, to reaffirm Washington’s commitment to a strong response to Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
The president also told Zelenskyy on Thursday that the US embassy in Kyiv was still open and fully operational after the State Department issued a directive for qualified family members in the Kyiv embassy to leave.
The State Department also recommended on Sunday that all US citizens in Ukraine leave the country immediately, signaling Russia’s continued military construction on the border.