Britain Warns Of Russian Invasion Despite Kyiv Concerns

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News Chief

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Britain has joined the United States in saying there is a “real threat” of Russia invading Ukraine, despite Kyiv urging the West to avoid panic.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it was “highly likely” that President Vladimir Putin wanted to invade. “We’re doing all we can through deterrence and diplomacy to urge him to desist,” she added in published remarks.

Her comments reflected the United States’ actions where President Joe Biden and officials suggested an invasion was imminent.

The comments came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the West not to create panic amid the build-up of Russian troops on his country’s borders.

He told reporters that warnings of an imminent invasion put Ukraine’s economy at risk.

His remarks seemed to reverse Kyiv’s previous statements about a possible invasion and public earnings that 127,000 Russian troops are near Ukraine’s borders.

As tensions rise, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will telephone Russian President Vladimir Putin and visit eastern Europe to resolve the Ukraine border crisis, his office explained.

The prime minister said Britain prepared to deploy more soldiers in Europe in the event of a conflict, raising the prospect of troops heading to Hungary to bolster defenses there.

A senior U.S. diplomat told Worthy News there are also tens of thousands of American forces already in Hungary and other Eastern European nations and the Baltics.

Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia on Tuesday, has urged a peaceful solution to the crisis.

And Foreign Secretary Truss cautioned that it is “very unlikely” British soldiers would be deployed to fight in any conflict involving Ukraine and Russia.

Instead, she said Britain was sending weapons to Ukraine and “strengthening” its sanction system, so oligarchs close to the Kremlin had “nowhere to hide.”

The United Nations Security Council was to discuss the crisis Monday.

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