Blinken tells Security Council Russia 'clearly' planning to attack Ukraine in coming days

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday and warned the global body that Russia still appears to be preparing to invade Ukraine in the very near future.

In front of the United Nations Security Council Thursday morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russia to pull back its troops from its border with Ukraine to avoid a war with the country.

Blinken traveled to United Nations headquarters in New York City to issue the warning, which follows multiple alerts from President Joe Biden's administration about Moscow's designs in Ukraine, a former part of the Soviet Union.

Warning that the world is in a "moment of peril," Blinken said Russia's movements near Ukraine's eastern border is presently the greatest threat to peace in Europe -- and urged Moscow's top diplomat to reassure the Security Council world that no incursion is coming.

"The Russian government can announce today, with no qualification, equivocation or deflection that Russia will not invade Ukraine," Blinken told the council. "State it clearly, state it plainly to the world and then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes back to their barracks and hangars, and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table."

Biden's top diplomat added that the Russian government has failed to follow through or prove that it's drawing down the number of troops near the border -- a claim that Russia made earlier this week. On Wednesday, the White House said that it appears that Russia is actually increasing troop levels.

"We do not see [a withdrawal] happening on the ground," Blinken said. "Our information indicates clearly that these forces, including ground troops, aircraft, ships, are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days."

Other Western and European leaders, including NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, have also expressed skepticism that Moscow is pulling any troops out of the region.

Concerns about a Russian invasion are based partly on security concerns repeated by Moscow about Ukraine's aspiration to join NATO and the West's failure to make guarantees about Russia's security.

Russia has put more than 130,000 troops near the country's border with Ukraine over the past few months.

"I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one," Blinken told the Security Council.

"The basic principles that sustain peace and security, principles that were enshrined in the wake of two world wars and the Cold War, are under threat -- the principle that one country cannot change the borders of another by force."