Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been predicted for more than a month or even a year. But if earlier forecasts were made with an accuracy of months, now the media and politicians even name the hour of the attack. This time the West is waiting for an attack on the night of February 16th. What other dates were called as expected for an attack by Russia - he recalls. The day is approaching, which in the United States has been called the day of Russia's attack on Ukraine. The British tabloids The Sun and Mirror even specified the hour of the “invasion”.

Mirror sources in US intelligence suggested that airstrikes on command posts could be carried out on February 16 at 3 am local time (4.00 Moscow time).

The Sun confirmed that US intelligence considers 3 a.m. "the most likely time to order" an "invasion".

Heated discussions of the alleged approaching attack began after Politico, citing a statement by US President Joe Biden made during negotiations with Western leaders, that Russia would invade Ukraine on February 16. This statement was confirmed by several US officials.

Bloomberg has a different assumption: Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine, according to its data, was supposed to happen on February 15th. This information was allegedly given to the agency by "officials", but it is not specified from which countries, what positions and surnames they have.

Although this American news agency has already compromised itself by reporting on February 5 that Russia has "begun an invasion" of Ukraine.

Subsequently, Bloomberg apologized for this publication, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that against this background, the Kremlin has every reason to replace the definition of the term fake-news with Bloomberg-news.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan predicted a range of dates when the "invasion" could take place. According to him, the Russian Federation may take aggressive steps against Ukraine before the end of the Olympic Games in Beijing, that is, until February 20.

This is not the first time that Russia's attack on Ukraine has been predicted, but recently forecasts on this topic have been appearing more actively. The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, in an interview with the Military Times, claimed that Moscow was preparing to launch an attack by the end of January-beginning of February 2022.

Approximately the same forecast was given on January 14 by the press secretary of the White House, Jen Psaki. She said that Russia could attack Ukraine between mid-January and mid-February.

The Sun tabloid, citing analysts on January 25, wrote that Russia would almost certainly deliver a "limited strike" against Ukraine over the next ten days.

Forecasts for a slightly earlier period were made by The Associated Press (AP) and The Washington Post. They wrote that Russia was preparing an offensive against Ukraine in the first weeks of 2022. The materials claimed that, according to intelligence, up to 175,000 Russian troops could be involved in the invasion, half of which are already on the border with Ukraine.

There were also predictions of a Russian attack before the New Year. According to the British tabloid Daily Star, the heads of British intelligence warned the ministers about the allegedly very real possibility of the Russian invasion into the territory of Ukraine on Christmas Eve - December 25th.

Forecasts that were made in the autumn were also mainly about the winter period.

Bloomberg wrote on November 22 last year that, according to American intelligence, Russia plans to attack Ukraine in early 2022, when all troops will gather at the border. The agency noted that the military, presumably, will attack in three directions - from central Russia, Crimea and Belarus.

But an attack in the autumn period was also not ruled out. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 1 last year that his country was considering the risks of a possible military escalation due to Russian actions along most of its border - from the east, south and north - at any time until the end of September. As he noted, one can expect an attempt by the Russian "blitzkrieg" to the borders of Donbass.

There had been talk of a Russian invasion years before. In particular, on April 11, 2019, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov stated that Russia was allegedly preparing for a full-scale continental war in Europe. He then noted that Moscow was building up strike groups of troops along the Ukrainian border.

Shortly before that, in February 2019, then-president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that the Kremlin was preparing for a military strike on Ukraine - this, in his opinion, was evidenced by the presence of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.

In November 2018, after the incident in the Kerch Strait with Ukrainian ships, Poroshenko even decided to introduce martial law in Ukraine.

He explained this need by the existing threat of a full-scale war with the Russian Federation.

bbabo.Net