Russian President Vladimir Putin.Photo: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PRESS SERVICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
U.S. officialstoldThe New York Timesthat America’s alert level for its nuclear forces has not changed, indicating a deliberate decision to avoid further escalation.
During a Sundayappearance onThis Week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed Putin’s move.
“This is really a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression. And the global community and the American people should look at it through that prism. We’ve seen him do this time and time again,” Psaki told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
“At no point has Russia been under threat from NATO, has Russia been under threat from Ukraine, this is all a pattern from President Putin,” Psaki continued. “We have the ability to defend ourselves, but we also need to call out what we’re seeing here from President Putin.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Putin’s decision was a “totally unacceptable” escalation in the war with Ukraine.
“Putin has tried every means possible to actually put fear in the world in terms of his action, and it just means that we have to ramp up our efforts here at the United Nations and elsewhere to hold him accountable,“Thomas-Greenfield told CBS News' Margaret Brennanduring an interview onFace the Nationon Sunday. “Certainly nothing is off the table with this guy. He’s willing to use whatever tools he can to intimidate Ukrainians and the world.”
Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues after the country invaded on Thursday, with forces moving from the north, south and east.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty
“You don’t know where to go, where to run, who you have to call,” Liliya Marynchak, a 45-year-old teacher in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine,told PEOPLE recently of the moment her city was bombed. “This is just panic,” she said.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called “peacekeeping.”
“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine,” PresidentJoe Bidensaid as the invasion began in force last week.
source: people.com
