UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has claimed that Kiev is "certainly" a target for Russia. She added that London is "very fearful" of an attack on Ukraine's capital, noting that Russian troops can reach Kiev "very, very quickly".
"It is certainly, absolutely a target for the Russian government", Truss said without revealing what prompted the UK's concerns.
The foreign secretary went on to claim that in London's view the "invasion" was "imminent" and that it was "highly likely". She went on to repeat the unsubstantiated allegations by the US that Russia is likely to use a "false flag" operation as a pretext for the purported invasion.
This is not the first time the UK has used the term "highly likely" when trying to describe Russia's alleged involvement in nefarious acts. London has systematically failed to provide a shred of hard evidence that would back up its allegations (or even the use of such strong language). In one of the last instances of it being used, then-UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab claimed that Russia "highly likely" tried to meddle in the 2019 General Election despite admitting that London had no specific evidence to prove it.
Warmongering Continues Even as Russia Withdraws Portion of Troops
Liz Truss made her claims as Russia was withdrawing a portion of the nation's troops from the border with Ukraine after the end of military drills. Nations in the West previously cited the concentration of Russian forces, allegedly in quantities exceeding 100,000, as the main reason behind their fears of an alleged invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry announced the withdrawal of a part of these troops on 15 February, a day before the date that Western governments see as the possible date of the attack according to some media outlets. The West has repeatedly asked Moscow to pull out troops to ease the tensions around Ukraine.
Yet, despite Russia effectively fulfilling the West's months-long requests by pulling out forces, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss insisted that London will believe that an invasion won't happen only after the Kremlin withdraws all of the country's troops from the border with Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly rejected attempts by foreign governments to force it to withdraw the nation's forces noting that it is Moscow's sovereign right to deploy troops as it sees fit. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also separately stated on 15 February that the withdrawal was not prompted by the Western hysteria or any foreign pressure, but was scheduled to happen after the end of the military drills.
The Kremlin has on multiple occasions rejected claims by the US and other NATO countries that it plans to invade Ukraine. Furthermore, Kiev itself has questioned the intelligence on which the West has based its allegations. Still, the US and its allies continue to ramp up the hysteria around the allegedly planned "invasion", with American National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently claiming that a Russian attack on Ukraine could happen any day now. He, however, admitted that Washington has no way of knowing when exactly.