Russia-Ukraine Crisis Briefing: Russian Troops ‘Ready to Go’

Good evening. This is your Russia-Ukraine Crisis Briefing, a weeknight guide to the latest news and analysis about the conflict. I’m your host, Carole Landry. Here’s the latest.

• Russian troops are in place for an invasion and could attack anytime, the Pentagon said in its most dire assessment yet.

• Ukraine braced for all-out conflict, declaring a state of emergency and mobilizing military reservists.

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• It is still up to President Vladimir Putin to give the order to invade.

• Western leaders targeted Putin’s inner circle with sanctions and threatened further penalties if Russia invades.

• These maps show the breakaway regions of Ukraine and the places where Russia has added forces.

• Follow our live updates.

U.S. says Russian invasion is probably imminent

Russian troops are in place for a full-scale military assault, American officials said as Ukraine declared a state of emergency and braced for war.

Fears of an attack grew when the Kremlin said this evening that separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine had requested President Vladimir Putin’s “help in repelling the aggression of the armed forces and formations of Ukraine.” Ukrainian officials say there has been no such aggression and none is planned.

The appeal could be used as a justification for Putin to order an invasion.

The Pentagon, in its grimmest warning yet, said that 80 percent of the 190,000 Russian troops and separatist forces in or near Ukraine were now in combat-ready positions.

“They are ready to go,” John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman said. “They could attack at any time,” he added, “with a significant military force.”

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council approved a state of emergency for 30 days that Parliament then endorsed, and officials told Ukrainian citizens in Russia to leave immediately.

“Our army is ready” to defend against a Russian attack, said Oleksiy Danilov, the head of the council.

Ukrainian lawmakers also began formally working on plans to loosen gun laws and allow civilians to own firearms, one day after President Volodymyr Zelensky called up military reservists to fight.

Western officials had said a day earlier that Russian troops entered the contested portions of eastern Ukraine controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists after Moscow recognized their independence.

A cyberattack brought down the websites of many Ukrainian institutions, including Parliament, the Foreign Ministry and the cabinet of ministers. Some were quickly restored, but others had yet to come back online by nighttime in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

The big names on the sanction list

Prominent officials from Putin’s inner circle and other high-profile Russians are on the European Union’s list of targets for sanctions that was released today. They were banned from traveling to the 27 countries of the E.U. and face a freeze on their assets in Europe, although that could be difficult to carry out.

The E.U. compiled the list in coordination with the U.S., which suggests that the Biden administration will target the same people. Western officials have said that imposing sanctions on Putin himself is not off the table, but they have not taken steps to do so.

The Russians under sanctions include:

Sergei Shoigu: Russia’s defense minister is one of the country’s longest-serving officials and part of the small group of hard-liners who have Putin’s ear. Shoigu, who was appointed in 2012, has called Ukrainian nationalists “nonhumans.”

Anton Vaino: Putin’s chief of staff was relatively unknown when he was elevated to the key post in 2016, replacing a longtime ally of the president. He is part of a younger generation of unquestioning Putin loyalists.

Maria Zakharova: The foreign ministry’s often caustic spokeswoman regularly takes swipes at the Western media and her counterparts in Washington and Britain. Two weeks ago, as the White House warned of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine, Zakharova responded: “The White House’s hysteria is as revealing as ever. The Anglo-Saxons need war. At any price.”

Margarita Simonyan: She is the editor in chief of Russia’s English-language television network RT, created in 2005 to promote pro-Kremlin views. Today’s coverage featured a report falsely asserting that Ukraine’s Maidan protests in 2014 led to war, poverty and the rise of the far right.

Yevgeny Prigozhin: The businessman has close links to Putin, and he finances, among other things, the Wagner group of mercenaries that has been active in Africa. Several members of his family are also on the list.

What else we’re following

Analysis and commentary

• Many analysts are skeptical that the U.S. and its European allies will follow through with the toughest sanctions that they have considered, our diplomatic correspondents write.

• Our columnist from The Interpreter explained the key passages from Putin’s address to Russians this week that convey his case for war.

• From Opinion: An all-out invasion of Ukraine would be far from a repeat of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright writes. It would be a scenario reminiscent of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Other developments

• Our Moscow bureau chief reports on the growing unease among Russians as their country inches closer to war.

• The town of Shchastya in eastern Ukraine may well emerge as the stepping-off point for a Russian invasion. (Shchastya means “happiness” in Ukrainian.)

• Videos posted on social media showed Russian troop movements along a possible invasion path to Ukraine.

• On a westward train journey from Kyiv to Lviv, near the Polish border, our correspondent spoke to Ukrainians struggling to grasp the possibility of a new war.

• The Biden administration warned that it was ready to impose a ban on exports of American technology that are vital to the Russian economy.

• A Russian invasion of Ukraine could raise oil and food prices globally, including in the U.S., at a time of already-high inflation.

• Taiwan’s president ordered the armed forces to strengthen defenses. Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine has raised worries that China could be emboldened to ramp up pressure on the island.

• The debate about a transition to renewable energy has taken a back seat to energy security in Europe, where Russia is the largest energy supplier.

• Russia’s aggression has prompted calls to move the biggest soccer match of the year, the Champions League final in May, out of its scheduled host city: St. Petersburg, Russia.

We also recommend:

• The latest episode of “The Daily,” about Putin’s logic for invading Ukraine.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow — Carole

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