Russia-Ukraine crisis: Antony Blinken accepts Kremlin invitation to meet; Biden says ‘invasion odds are quite high’

            Sergey Lavrov suggested a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who agreed providing Russia would not attack Ukraine. Russia, according to Biden, is conducting a “false flag operation to have a reason to go in” to attack Ukraine. “The threat is quite high—because they haven’t moved any of their forces out”, Biden said, adding that “we have reason to believe they’re engaging in a false flag operation to have a pretext to go in”.

Vice President Joe Biden: Every sign we have is that they are ready to move into Ukraine and assault it. Second, I’ve been waiting for Putin’s reaction to my letter, which was my response to him. It’s arrived at the Moscow embassy. They’re faxing it to us. I can’t say anything about it yet, remarked Biden.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s UN envoy, warned Russia of a forceful and coordinated international reaction to its military build-up in the Donbas area. However, the deal has yet to be implemented, and intermittent skirmishes occur. “Not only does Ukraine seek peace, security, and stability for itself, but also for Europe as a whole”.