U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting with Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets (not pictured) at the State Department in in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2022. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday warned that Russian forces are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in "coming days," adding that Russia plans to manufacture a pretext for an attack on its neighbor that could include a fake or real assault using chemical weapons.
Blinken told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine that he had sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier on Thursday proposing a meeting in person in Europe next week, as he called on Russia to state clearly and plainly during the meeting that it would not invade Ukraine.
