As warnings fly between US and Russia, how real is the threat of war in Ukraine?
WASHINGTON — So far, it's been a war of words. Could it flare into something more dangerous?
Against the backdrop of a major buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine, a former Soviet republic and struggling democracy sandwiched between Russia and the West, the rhetoric and prospect for conflict have been sharpening daily.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, meeting his Russian counterpart in Stockholm on Thursday, explicitly warned Moscow against an invasion — a scenario that Ukraine's government, backed by both NATO and the Biden administration, has described as a real. The Kremlin, in turn, has hinted that an intervention by its troops may be necessary to halt escalating separatist fighting in eastern Ukraine.
