The United States has information that Russian commandos have been ordered to invade Ukraine, several US media outlets reported on Sunday, citing unnamed intelligence sources.
This information is what pushed the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to say on Friday that he was "convinced" that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had decided to attack Ukraine, reported the Washington Post, attributing this information to anonymous sources.
AFP contacted the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department, who did not confirm or deny this information, which was also transmitted by other US media.
A Pentagon official said Friday that more than 40% of Russian forces on Ukraine’s borders were in attack position, noting that the Russian-led destabilization of the country had "started".
Russian troop movements towards the Ukrainian border have been observed since Wednesday, the official said.
Washington has been warning for weeks that Russia will provoke an incident on the Ukrainian border to justify an invasion of Ukraine. The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, assured again on Sunday that "everything" indicated that Russia was "about to" to invade Ukraine.
Russia denies any invasion plan, but demands security guarantees, such as the withdrawal of NATO from Eastern Europe, a request rejected by the West.