Crisis in Ukraine: for Washington, Russia is preparing a large-scale invasion – franceinfo

They said that US Intelligence had not established whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to go on the offensive or not, but that he wanted to give himself all possible options, from the partial invasion of the separatist enclave of Donbass to total invasion. At the rate that the Russian military continues to strengthen around Ukraine, the master of the Kremlin should have sufficient forces for a large-scale invasion, or 150,000 men, in mid-February, they warned elected Americans and went European. If the Russian president chooses the most drastic option, he could surround Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, and overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky in 48 hours, according to these officials.

They warned that the conflict would have a considerable human cost with the risk of causing the death of 25,000 to 50,000 civilians, 5,000 to 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 3,000 to 10,000 Russian soldiers. It could also cause an influx of 1 to 5 million refugees, mainly to Poland.