“Russia can invade without warning”… Where the U.S. Secretary of Defense rushed to

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The U.S. Department of Defense said on the 14th that Russia might invade Ukraine without any warning.

Defense spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing today that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not appear to have made a final decision on whether to invade Ukraine, but military action might occur at any time.

The United States, which predicted the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 16th, judged that President Putin has not yet made a final decision on whether to invade, but judged that if an invasion was carried out, it might be done without any prior warning.

Kirby said Putin is continuing to add troops along the Ukrainian border. This means that tensions are continuing. In fact, Russia has been conducting large-scale joint exercises with the Belarusian army in Belarus, northern Ukraine, since the 10th.

In the midst of this, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit Brussels, Belgium, where NATO headquarters is located from the 15th. It was also the day before the expected date of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by the United States.

“Secretary Austin will meet with NATO leadership to discuss Russia’s military build-up and reiterate the United States’ commitment to the NATO Article 5 alliance,” Kirby said.

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Article 5 of NATO is a collective defense clause in which when one member country is attacked, it is regarded as an attack on the whole of NATO, and other member countries automatically intervene to defend jointly.

If Russia invades Ukraine, which is not yet a NATO member, it can be said that it will be regarded as a military threat to NATO member countries in that the security instability of neighboring NATO member countries will increase.

Following Brussels, Austin will also visit Poland and Lithuania, where NATO forces have recently increased. Spokesperson Kirby explained that in Poland, they will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Defense Minister to assess the current threat situation and discuss ways to strengthen cooperation and security between the two countries. About 5,000 additional US troops have recently been sent to Poland in preparation for a Russian invasion of Ukraine. In Lithuania, following meeting with the leaders, there is also a plan to meet with counterparts from the three Baltic countries (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia).

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