Relations between Russia and Ukraine have been deteriorating since the late 2000s, as more and more Ukrainians developed pro-Western and anti-Russian attitudes and the Kremlin desperately wanted to keep Ukraine within its sphere of influence.
The armed conflict between the neighboring nations began in early 2014 when Russian forces invaded the Crimean peninsula and then organized a referendum to annex the area.
A few months later, Russia provided extensive political and military support to pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (administrative divisions). The majority of people in both oblasts speak Russian, and they also have significant Russian ethnic minority populations.
Hundreds of lives are lost each year to sporadic outbursts of fighting, which are accompanied by exchanges of small-arms and artillery fire. No significant amount of territory has changed hands in years.
The pro-Russian self-declared "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk currently control less than half of the territory of each oblast, but the area they occupy holds a majority of the citizens of both regions.
Ukrainian officials believe invasion is not imminent
Since tensions escalated late last year, Biden and the war hawks in his administration have been claiming that an invasion is imminent. At one point, Biden told reporters that Putin "continues to build forces along Ukraine's border" and that the coming attack "would be the largest invasion since World War II. It would change the world."
But Biden's claims regarding Russia are only partly true. In a show of force, Moscow has stationed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks and has held several military drills at multiple locations in Russia. (Related: Ominous signs of impending Russian invasion: Half-dozen landing ships leave Baltic Sea to enter the Mediterranean as blood, medical supplies arrive.)
On Jan. 27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Biden by phone and asked him to tone down the rhetoric regarding the threat of a Russian invasion.
This is according to an unnamed Ukrainian official who was in the room with Zelensky during the conversation. According to this official, Biden kept trying to tell Zelensky that the invasion could happen sometime in February, as soon as the weather becomes more favorable for Russian forces.
However, Zelensky reportedly told Biden that he and his intelligence services disagreed with the American assessment of an imminent invasion. He also told him to "calm down the messaging," as it was bringing unnecessary panic that could escalate and cause harm to the fragile Ukrainian economy.
In a recent televised address, Zelensky urged Ukrainians not to panic. "We are strong enough to keep everything under control and derail any attempts at destabilization," he said.
Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov also recently told the Ukrainian parliament that "there are no grounds to believe [Russia will invade]."
"Don't worry, sleep well," he said. "No need to have your bags packed.
Ukrainian political analysts also do not believe an invasion is imminent, but they agree that Russia is attempting to destabilize Ukrainian society.
"The Kremlin's plans include undermining the situation inside Ukraine, fomenting hysteria and fear among Ukrainians, and the authorities in Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to contain this snowball," said Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst working for the Penta Center for Political Studies in Kyiv.
Kyiv resident Andrey Chekonovsky, in an interview with the Associated Press, said Ukrainians have been living with the threat of a Russian invasion for eight years now. "I think the fact that we are worried now is connected with diplomatic games," he added.
Even some of America's closest allies in Europe, such as France, Germany and other European Union nations, have rejected its assertion that an invasion is likely to come within the next few weeks.
What this disagreement between Biden, Ukrainians and America's other allies shows is that Biden is attempting to exaggerate the threat of war – and this behavior has not gone unnoticed.
"They continue to blow the sirens of war with Ukraine, and based on what?" asked Josh Sigurdson, host of "World Alternative Media."
"Does anyone actually know what this so-called war would be over? Do all the people – the war hawks out there – understand any of what this is even about?" continued Sigurdson. "What is it about Russia and Ukraine that means that the U.S. needs to send a bunch of weapons and possibly soldiers over to the border? Why?"
More related articles:
Russia warns Ukraine of full-scale conflict along the country's eastern border.
Watch the Feb. 2 episode of "World Alternative Media" with host Josh Sigurdson, as he goes into detail about Biden's desperate attempts to stoke a war with Russia for his own benefit.
This video is from the World Alternative Media channel on Brighteon.com.
Learn more about the conflict in Ukraine by reading the latest articles at WWIII.news.
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