Biden addresses Ukraine situation: “The United States is prepared, no matter what happens.”
CNN
By Kaitlan Collins, CNN
President Joe Biden is going to provide a status update on the ongoing situation in Ukraine at 3:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to the White House.
Russia has amassed more than 130,000 troops near Ukraine's border in recent weeks, according to US estimates, raising fears from Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials that an invasion could be imminent. Russia announced earlier Tuesday that some of its troops would return to base after completing recent drills, but stressed that major military exercises would continue.
The Russian defense ministry said troops from its Southern and Western military districts -- parts of which are next door to Ukraine -- had begun to return to their home stations, though the announcement did not say precisely where those troops were permanently based, where they had been exercising, or how many of them were withdrawing.
US ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said Tuesday the US was "monitoring the situation" after the Kremlin's troop announcement, but added that the US "will have to verify" any claims of a potential move towards deescalation by Russia.
The Ukraine crisis is largely a creation of President Vladimir Putin and his personal and disputed version of history that holds that the country, which was part of the Soviet Union until its breakup in 1991, should be part of greater Russia as well as his deep resentment about how the Cold War ended with the admission of former Warsaw Pact nations, that were aligned with the Soviets, like Poland, Romania and the Baltic states into NATO.
While the alliance is defensive in nature, Putin sees its move into eastern Europe as a direct threat to Russia and his notion that Moscow is entitled to a sphere of influence in the region. Ukraine is not a NATO member so the US will not send troops to defend it. But Washington also says it should not be up to Putin to decide the destiny of another independent, sovereign, democracy.
In effect, Putin is holding Ukraine hostage with a demand for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe that would amount to a major rewriting of the post-Cold War world that Washington will never accept. But he may perceive a historic moment in which he can open divisions in the alliance, forever crush Ukrainian dreams of joining the West, avenge the fall of the Soviet Union and advance his notion of Russian greatness.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
CNN's Stephen Collinson, Ivana Kottasová, Nathan Hodge and Uliana Pavlova contributed to this report.
