US and Europe try to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine  7.30 - video Dailymotion

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Watch US and Europe try to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine  7.30 - Feelings Drama on Dailymotion

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00:00About 130,000 Russian troops are now staged near Ukraine's border.

00:09The US fears an invasion could be days away.

00:12Despite the show of force, Russia continues to deny any plans to invade,

00:17dismissing US warnings of an imminent invasion as hysteria.

00:21The Australian government's evacuating its embassy,

00:24following similar moves by the US and Canada.

00:27The situation, as you are all hearing as well, is deteriorating

00:32and is reaching a very dangerous stage.

00:35World leaders have been speaking with Putin to try and de-escalate the situation.

00:40When the Minsk Accords were signed,

00:43there wasn't anything like today's intense Russian military presence at the border.

00:48And that's something we discussed with President Putin.

00:51And when I talk about stability and de-escalation, that's what it's about.

00:55In a phone call, President Biden warned Putin of swift and severe costs if Russia invades.

01:01Putin argues that Washington has failed to take Russia's main concerns into account,

01:06including demands that Ukraine be prohibited from joining NATO.

01:10Despite the mounting global concern, Ukraine is playing down invasion warnings,

01:15while the US says its troops won't enter the country.

01:18That's a world war when Americans and Russians start shooting at one another.

01:23We're in a very different world than we've ever been in.

01:27Maria Avdeyeva is a research director at the European Expert Association

01:32and is currently in Kharkiv, 40 kilometres from the Russian border.

01:36Maria Avdeyeva, you're based in Ukraine's second largest city.

01:41Are people there assuming there will be an invasion and how are they dealing with that?

01:46People get all the time this worrying news about the mass massing troops on Russian border.

01:54And it is very close to Kharkiv.

01:56It's like 40 kilometres from our city.

01:59So people do get worried.

02:01But on the other hand, they are ready to fight.

02:04And if there will be a major invasion, it will not be an easy walk for any Russian soldiers.

02:11Because on the contrary, from the situation in 2014, when Ukraine was not ready,

02:18that our closest neighbour will invade and will attack.

02:22Now everyone knows what to do.

02:24And we have territorial defence units and women also go there.

02:30And the people study and how to, what to do with the weapons.

02:35I mean, just civilians.

02:36And also we have around 50, sorry, 500,000 people with a war experience

02:43who already been through this war, who have been combatants at that war.

02:48So they are ready to protect our land.

02:51Would it look like a conventional military campaign or would it be a different kind of war?

02:58It could be both.

03:00Because now what we see for the previous years,

03:04Kremlin and Putin are always trying to combine military operations with hybrid threats,

03:12with disinformation, with cyber attacks.

03:15So in this case, probably it will be that scenario.

03:20And also Putin and Kremlin and Russian forces, they need some pretext.

03:25It will be hard for them to explain to the world if they make this major invasion without any reason.

03:33That is why they are looking to create some provocation, some pretext.

03:39And we clearly see it in the pro-Russian media, pro-Kremlin media.

03:44Almost every day they are claiming that Ukraine with the support of our allies,

03:49with the support of US, Britain, Poland,

03:54are somehow trying to attack the occupied territories of Donbas,

04:00which is completely untrue because Ukraine doesn't want to attack any country.

04:05Ukraine wants to defend our land and that is what we were doing for the last eight years.

04:14Maria Avdeva, thank you very much for your time today.

04:16Thank you very much for having me.

04:35Thank you very much.

US and Europe try to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine 7.30

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