US secretary of state says crisis is ‘manufactured’; Washington, UK, EU, Australia and Japan hit Russia with sanctions. Follow the the latest developments
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Russia’s ministry of defence has just issued a bizarre call out, urging Russians to celebrate their “fatherland” by installing photos of military might on their desktops.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken earlier said an invasion of Ukraine had been Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “plan all along”, calling the situation a “manufactured crisis”.
His plan all along has been to invade Ukraine; to control Ukraine and its people; to destroy Ukraine’s democracy, which offers a stark contrast to the autocracy that he leads; to reclaim Ukraine as a part of Russia.
That’s why this is the greatest threat to security in Europe since world war two”.