WASHINGTON
US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor on Monday claimed that Russia is planning an “extremely violent” campaign against Ukraine.
Speaking with NBC’s “Today” show, Jake Sullivan said the US has intelligence that suggests “there will be an even greater form of brutality because this will not simply be some conventional war between two armies”.
“We believe that any military operation of the size, scope and magnitude of what we believe the Russians are planning will be extremely violent. It will cost the lives of Ukrainians and Russians, civilians and military personnel alike,” said Sullivan.
He warned that a war by Russia on the Ukrainian people will aim to “repress them, to crush them, to harm them.”
Earlier Monday, the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva raised concerns about “human rights violations and abuses in the aftermath of a further invasion” of Ukraine by Russia, including targeted killings, kidnappings, and torture.
Ambassador Bathsheba Nell Crocker sent a letter to UN High Commission for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, conveying the grave concern of the US that “a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering.”
Tensions rose dramatically in eastern Ukraine last week, with reports of a growing number of cease-fire violations, multiple shelling incidents, and evacuation of civilians from the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The US has accused Russia of amassing nearly 150,000 troops along the Ukrainian border in preparation for an imminent invasion.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and instead accused Western countries of undermining Russia’s security through NATO’s expansion toward its borders.
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