Washington said that Russia will invade Ukraine and commit war crimes there if diplomacy fails, according to the Al-Arabiya channel, in an urgent news story a while ago.
Washington continued: "We have detected hostile movements of Russia on its borders with Ukraine."
The United States renewed its commitment to provide defense assistance to the Ukrainian army in the framework of what it described as "its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
This came according to what was published by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) in a statement on its website today, Friday, during a phone call between US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov.
The two ministers discussed the ongoing and unjustified Russian military buildup in and around Ukraine.
The defense ministers of the United States and Ukraine, according to the statement, expressed their support for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and their commitment to continue close coordination.
However, a US official said Friday that intelligence agencies in the US indicate that Russia orchestrated an operation with a "false pretext" to invade Ukraine, according to the New York Times.
He pointed out that Moscow is paving the way for this pretext for the invasion by accusing Ukraine of preparing an "imminent attack" against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
The official added that "the Russian army plans to start these activities several weeks before the military invasion, which may start between mid-January and mid-February. we saw this in 2014 with Crimea."
As part of the "false pretext" plans, Washington has information indicating that Moscow has previously equipped a group of operatives trained in urban warfare and the use of explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russian proxy forces, the official said.
US information also indicates that Russian influential actors have begun to fabricate Ukrainian provocations on social media and the state to justify Russian intervention.
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