Ukrainian Defense Minister Reveals Large-Scale Russian Offensive Possible Late January

Illustration of Ukrainian tanks in the border region. (Wikimedia Commons/OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russia has amassed more than 94,000 troops near the Ukrainian border and may be preparing for a large-scale military offensive by the end of January, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told parliament on Friday, citing intelligence reports.

Reznikov said Ukraine would do nothing to provoke the situation, but was ready to fight back if Russia launched an attack.

Ukraine and its NATO allies have sounded the alarm about Russian troop movements near the Ukrainian border this year, sparking fears the simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine could erupt into open war.

"Our intelligence analyzes all scenarios, including the worst," Reznikov said.

"It notes the possibility of a large-scale escalation from Russia exists. The most likely time to reach readiness for escalation is the end of January," he said.

Ukraine has pressured the European Union and its NATO allies this week to prepare a package of tough sanctions to deter Russia from launching an attack.

Meanwhile, Moscow has in turn accused Ukraine and the United States of destabilizing behavior, suggesting Kyiv may be preparing to launch its own attacks in eastern Ukraine, which Ukrainian authorities vehemently deny.

Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday warned Moscow of a "heavy cost" Moscow would pay in the event of an escalation, urging his Russian counterpart to seek a diplomatic way out of the crisis.

In addition, Foreign Minister Blinken said it was possible that Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin would speak soon.

Work is underway to arrange video calls between them, the Kremlin said on Friday, a day after their top diplomats met to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

To note, Ukraine's relations with Russia collapsed in 2014 after Moscow-backed forces seized territory in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv wanted back. Ukraine says about 14,000 people have died in fighting since then.

Since the last crisis began, Moscow has been demanding legally binding security guarantees from the West that NATO would not recognize Ukraine as a member or deploy missile systems there to target Russia.

Ukraine said Russia had no say in its ambition to join the NATO alliance and dismissed security guarantees as illegitimate.

"Escalation is a possible scenario, but it is unavoidable, and our job is to prevent it. We have to make price escalation unacceptable to the aggressor," said Reznikov.