(BREAKING) A Ukrainian Joint Forces Officer tells Fox News’ Trey Yingst his soldiers are responding to artillery shelling in Eastern Ukraine. The officer said the exchange of fire is ongoing at this hour. The officer added that one Ukrainian soldier was injured, along with three civilians. The Ukrainian soldier is in serious, but stable condition.
It was not immediately clear whether the reported shelling in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine amounted to more than the usual flare-ups in an eight-year war there, but the United States has warned that Russia could instigate an incident as a pretext for an attack.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, attending a NATO meeting in Brussels, told reporters that the reports of shelling are “certainly troubling” and that the United States is still gathering details. “But you know we’ve said for some time that the Russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict, so we’ll be watching this very closely.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will tell the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that “the evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion. This is a crucial moment,” U.S. United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
The decision for Blinken, on his way to the Munich Security Council, to stop in New York and speak directly to the U.N. Security Council, was made in a series of overnight conversations at the White House, Thomas-Greenfield said. “Our goal is to convey the gravity of the situation,” she said.
