Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has yet to receive ‘100% certain’ information that a Russian attack is imminent.
His counterparts in Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, held a high-stakes telephone call on Saturday as fears grew that an incursion could begin within days.
Reports in the States claim the CIA has warned Nato allies that Wednesday has been identified as a target date, although sources have warned this could be part of a misinformation drive and would not say how definitive the information was.
But in a sign that Western leaders were preparing for a worst-case scenario, the US along with the UK and other European nations began ordering their citizens to leave immediately.
It has been reported in US media that intelligence from Russian central command intercepted on its way to troops on the ground named Wednesday as a target date.
A report compiled by the secret service is said to have detailed where an incursion could take place along with specific units designated certain tasks, The Telegraph reports.
Publicly, the White House has insisted it does not know definitively whether President Putin is committed to launching an invasion.
Mr Zelensky was asked on Saturday whether he agreed with the purported assessment that a Russian invasion is now imminent. He said Kyiv must ‘study all the information we receive very carefully and be ready for all possible risks’.
The Ukrainian President sought to play down the reports, saying: ‘If you have additional, 100% certain information about a Russian invasion of Ukraine, please share it with us. We are aware of all risks and we realise the risks are there.’
Urging the media not to stoke fears of an all-out war, he added: ‘Panic is the best friend of our enemy.’
In the UK, the Foreign Office updated its advice on Friday evening to urge British nationals to leave Ukraine now ‘while commercial means are still available’.
The order was issued as intelligence and advice from experts on the ground suggested an increased threat level, with an invasion at some point deemed highly likely, it is understood.
It came after Boris Johnson voiced fears for the security of Europe during a call with Western leaders including President Biden.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said an invasion could come ‘at any time’, with President Putin having amassed an estimated 130,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.
Mr Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said an attack before the end of the Winter Olympics on February 20 was a ‘credible prospect’, assigning it a ‘very, very distinct possibility’.
He said new Russian forces were arriving at the border and are in a position to ‘mount a major military operation in Ukraine any day now’, which could include a ‘rapid assault on the city of Kyiv’ or on other parts of the country.
Speaking from the White House, Mr Sullivan said Russia could choose ‘in very short order to commence a major military action against Ukraine’, but stressed the US does not know whether Mr Putin has made a final decision.
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