Putin on verge of ‘largest invasion since World War II’ in Ukraine, Biden says, as NATO starts beefing up forces on eastern front
American president warns Kremlin of ‘enormous consequences’ if they invade
With Russia poised to invade Ukraine, NATO forces were put on alert.
NATO troops, planes, tanks and battleships are being moved closer to the eastern front to reinforce member countries like Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
America sent six fighter jets which arrived in Estonia on Wednesday, the United States European Command said.
Moscow continues to deny it has any intention of invading, saying it is only responding to Western provocations.
But with at least 100,000 Russian troops now positioned in Belarus to the north of Ukraine and on Russia’s direct border of Ukraine – and upwards of 75,000 more Russian forces on their way – U.S. President Joe Biden warned on Wednesday that “this would be the largest invasion since World War II – it would change the world."
"There will be enormous consequences if [Putin] were to go in and invade,” Biden told reporters.
On Tuesday, Biden spoke from the White House Situation Room to European leaders about the crisis during a secure video call that lasted nearly 90 minutes.
He said the U.S. is putting 8,500 troops on standby to deploy to NATO countries near Ukraine. Biden is also considering deploying naval vessels.
NATO said it is "sending additional ships and fighter jets" to Eastern Europe, including F-16s from Denmark, naval forces from Spain and F-35s from The Netherlands.
Fox News also reported that Biden administration officials are preparing "severe" sanctions against Russia if they invade.
"That means the gradualism of the past is out, and this time, we will start at the top of the escalation ladder and stay there," a senior administration official told Fox. "We've made efforts to signal this intention very clearly, and I would say, a deepening selloff in Russian markets, its borrowing costs, the value of its currency market, imply default risk, reflect the severity of the economy consequences we can and will impose on the Russian economy in the event of a further invasion."
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
