Blinken to Visit Ukraine as US-Russia Tensions Escalate | Farsnews Agency

(FNA)- Secretary of State Antony Blinken Will visit Ukraine this week and meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky The State Department said on Tuesday that amid escalating tensions between the US and Russia over a possible Russian attack on their neighboring country.

Blinken will be in Kiev on a hasty visit to show US support after inconclusive diplomatic talks failed to resolve the massive disagreement over Ukraine between Moscow and the West in Europe last week and other security matters, The Associated Press reported.

Instead, those meetings appear to have increased fears of a Russian invasion, and the Joe Biden administration has accused Russia of preparing a "false flag operation" to use as a pretext for intervention. Russia has angrily denied the charge.

Blinken’s “visit and consultations are part of diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions caused by Russia’s military build-up and continued aggression against Ukraine,” the State Department said in a statement.

From Kiev, Blinken will travel to Berlin, where he will meet with his German, British and French counterparts to discuss a possible response to any Russian military action. Russia has massed about 100,000 soldiers with tanks and other heavy weapons on its own soil near the Ukrainian border, which many observers believe may be a preparation for an invasion.

Blinken will meet with Zelensky and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba on Wednesday, “to reinforce the United States’ commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”, the State Department said.

The department said, “The visit follows broad diplomacy with our European allies and partners, a joint approach to address Russia’s threat to Ukraine and to choose diplomacy and de-escalation in the interests of security and stability.”

Russia’s top diplomat on Monday dismissed US allegations that it was preparing an excuse to invade Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking to reporters The US dismissed the claim as “total propaganda”.

Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia expects a written response from the US and its allies this week to Moscow’s request for binding guarantees that NATO will not embrace Ukraine or any other ex-Soviet nations or deploy its forces and weapons there....

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