US envoy to UN: Russia moving toward ‘imminent invasion’

The US envoy to the United Nations warns that evidence on the ground suggests “Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion” of Ukraine as Washington disputes Moscow’s claims of a troop pullback.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield says she asked US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to attend a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine today “to signal our intense commitment to diplomacy.”

At the same time, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warns that Russia could be looking to create a pretext for invasion after “troubling” reports of shelling on Ukraine’s frontline with Moscow-backed separatists.

“We’ve said for some time that the Russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict. So we’ll be watching this very closely,” Austin tells journalists after a meeting with NATO defense ministers.