Ukraine invasion could happen 'as early as next week': UK foreign secretary

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - The world needs to prepare for the "worst-case scenario" of a Russian invasion of Ukraine as early as next week, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

"We need to prepare for the worst-case scenario and that worst case scenario could happen as early as next week," Truss said.

"The reality is that Russia does want to turn the clock back -- they want to turn the clock back to the 1990s and before."

Going on to say that disinformation on the conflict had doubled over the past week, she said "false-flag operations" had occurred in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. "I'm afraid that Russia has shown that they are not serious about diplomacy," she added.

The foreign secretary accused Moscow of refusing to "engage in talks," she said: "We need to be strong as that is the only thing that Russia understands."

Truss also suggested that, on a global scale, a Russian invasion of Ukraine "with no consequences" would "send a signal to other aggressors around the world." She added: "This is not just an issue for Europe."

"That is why our partners, whether it's Australia or Japan, around the world, are all supporting Ukraine and supporting us in the steps we are taking."

She warned that the existing global security architecture "isn't sufficient to deal with the new challenges we face."

"Any future arms control needs to also include China," Truss said. "We can't be in a situation where only one part of the world is constrained and the rest isn't."

Euro-Atlantic security is not divisible from Indo-Pacific security, she underlined.

Insisting that the UK was ready to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" with Ukraine in the event that it is invaded, she said the West must not "sell out" Ukraine.

Truss said: "We need to be strong in supporting Ukraine and not selling Ukraine out with concessions on sovereignty."

She added that the G7 countries, which recently convened in a foreign ministers meeting, are "completely united in support of Ukrainian sovereignty and self-determination."

Moscow, according to Ukrainian officials, recently amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukrainian borders, prompting fears that the Kremlin could be planning a military offensive against its neighbor.

Russia has denied that it is preparing to invade and instead accused Western countries of undermining its security through NATO's expansion towards its borders.

Moscow also issued a list of security demands to the West, including a rollback of troop deployments from some ex-Soviet states and guarantees that some of those states would not join NATO.