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Grim-faced White House officials said Sunday they are holding out a sliver of hope that a diplomatic resolution can be reached over Ukraine but warned the window is “shrinking’’ fast.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby — asked whether the flurry of diplomatic activity by the US and its allies in the past week was a “last-ditch” effort to reach a solution to Russia’s aggressive military stand — replied that there is clearly “cause for concern.
”I don’t know if I would say last-ditch, but certainly, we recognize that the time component here seems to be shrinking, and that gives us all cause for concern,” Kirby said on “Fox News Sunday.”
”But again, we’ve said it, and we still believe it today, that there is still a time and a space for a diplomatic path forward,” the Pentagon rep said. “We still believe that there’s a way to de-escalate the tensions there, find a peaceful way out of this so that a war in Ukraine can be averted.
“We still believe there’s an opportunity for that, and we welcome these moves by our European allies to try to engage Mr. Putin diplomatically.”
Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described what a Russian invasion might look like.
“If there is a military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, it’s likely to begin with a significant barrage of missiles and bomb attacks,” Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“It would then be followed by an onslaught of a ground force moving across the Ukrainian frontier.
“We cannot perfectly predict the day, but we have now been saying for some time that we are in the window, and an invasion could begin, a major military action could begin by Russia in Ukraine, any day now. That includes this coming week, before the end of the Olympics,” he said.
“The way they have built up their forces, the way they have maneuvered things in place, makes it a distinct possibility there will be major military action very soon. And we are prepared to continue to work on diplomacy, but we are also prepared to respond in a united and decisive way with our allies and partners should Russia proceed.”
President Biden spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday and is expected to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday.
The hour-long phone call between Putin and Biden, who warned Russia of “swift and severe costs” if it invades Ukraine, failed to achieve any significant breakthroughs — and Kirby said it doesn’t bode well for a diplomatic outcome.
“It’s certainly not a sign that things are moving in the right direction. It’s certainly not a sign that Mr. Putin has any intention to de-escalate the tensions,” Kirby said. “And it’s certainly not a sign that he is recommitting himself to a diplomatic path forward. So, it doesn’t give us any cause for optimism.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke with Putin and Zelensky on Saturday.
Both Kirby and Sullivan said continued Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border and the military exercises in Belarus indicate that Putin could be close to getting his forces aligned for an attack.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the US is open to diplomacy but that if Russia invades, the US is prepared to respond.
“I raised our serious concerns that Moscow may be considering launching a military attack against Ukraine in the coming days,” Blinken said late Saturday in Hawaii. “I made clear, as President Biden did today in his conversation with President Putin, that a diplomatic path to resolving this crisis – a crisis created by the unprovoked massing of Russian forces all around Ukraine – that diplomatic path remains open.
“I also underscored that if Moscow chooses the path of aggression and further invades Ukraine, the response from the United States and our allies and partners will be swift, it will be united, it will be severe,” America’s top diplomat said at a news conference.
Russia has more than 100,000 troops and heavy military equipment amassed along its eastern border with Ukraine, while it is conducting joint military exercises in Belarus and holding naval maneuvers in the Black Sea.
The US administration has said it has deployed 3,000 troops to Poland, Germany and Romania and has sent millions of dollars worth of military equipment to Ukraine because of the standoff.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced it would send an additional 3,000 troops to Poland.
At the same time, the State Department has ordered US embassy staff in Kyiv to evacuate because of the risk of invasion.
But while Biden is sending US personnel to bolster NATO forces in Europe, he has said they wouldn’t be deployed inside Ukraine.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he agrees with Biden for not putting US troops in harm’s way in Ukraine and ordering embassy personnel to leave.
“I agree with the president 100 percent. Use some common sense,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We should not be endangering our soldiers or Marines, etc., because somebody decides not to evacuate until after the fact. Get out! If there’s a pending invasion, use common sense. Leave.”
But Cassidy also was highly critical of the Biden administration’s energy policies that he says gave Russia leverage in Europe with the Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline project.
Biden has warned Russia that if it invades, the Nord Stream 2 project, which when operating would distribute Russian energy to Germany through a pipeline under the Baltic Sea, would “end.”
“This is a culmination of the United States kind of de-arming when it comes to energy diplomacy,” Cassidy said. “Think about it: Less than a year ago, under the previous administration, we were not only energy independent but poised to have the ability to make the EU energy independent. In less than a year, we’ve lost that ability.
”And so now Russia has the leverage over the EU in terms of energy supply in order to kind of blackmail them into turning a blind eye. You could argue they’re trying not to, but Germany’s response has been quite muted to this apparently pending invasion. I would say that this is a culmination of a failed energy geopolitical policy,” said Cassidy, a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
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