(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- While appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned that if Russia invades, Ukraine will see “a significant amount of combat power move very quickly to take Kyiv.”
Austin said the presence of Russian tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and rocket forces have made the situation “potentially very, very dangerous.” He added that if Putin employs that “combat power,” there will be “enormous casualties” among Ukraine’s civilian population.
Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin tells @martharaddatz that it’s “highly likely” that Russian tanks could enter Kyiv if Russia invades Ukraine.
“You could see a significant amount of combat power move very quickly to take Kyiv.” https://t.co/0mXhbbrGyt pic.twitter.com/hg6PatOmqo
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 20, 2022
Just one day after Austin’s appearance on “This Week,” Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized the independence of the eastern Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and ordered Russian “peacekeepers” into the region.
Then in a televised address from the Kremlin on Thursday, Putin announced he had ordered “a special military operation” against Ukraine.
Following Putin’s address, Russian troops launched the full-scale attack in the wee hours of Thursday, hitting Ukraine from the east, the north, and by sea in the south.
Missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities as troops poured over the eastern border regions of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Luhansk. Russian naval vessels executed sea landings on Odessa and Mariupol in the south while troops poured over the border from Belarus in the north.
As they advanced from Belarus, Russian troops reportedly seized the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s “exclusion zone.”
By Friday, the capital city of Kyiv was pummeled by missile fire as Russian forces made their way to the city of over 3 million people.
Kyiv residents sheltered in underground subway stations while thousands fled the city.
According to a senior Ukraine official, Russian troops could enter the area just outside Kyiv by late Friday. The official said Ukrainian troops were defending positions on four fronts around the city, despite being outnumbered.
Thus far an estimated 100,000 Ukrainians have fled while dozens have been reported killed.
In a video address to the nation on Friday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelesnky vowed to remain in Kyiv as Russian troops advance. He said he is aware that the “enemy as marked me down as the number one target.” But, Zelensky said, “I will say in the capital.”
