According to Western intelligence, Russia plans to carry out a possible attack on Ukraine in January-February.What did Burns talk about with Zelensky-details / Photo by REUTERS

CIA Director William Burns held a private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and intelligence officials last week amid  tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

CNN learned about this from informed sources.

Burns “advised intelligence colleagues on fears of a further Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

“They discussed current risk assessments for Ukraine. While in Kiev, Burns also had the opportunity to discuss the current situation with Zelensky himself and efforts to de-escalate tensions,” the source shared.

READ ALSOAny threat to the integrity of Ukraine will have a high price: German Chancellor threatened RussiaThe CIA maintains a long-standing policy of not commenting or publicly announcing an executive’s travels.

The threat of a full-scale attack of the Russian Federation on Ukraine

After the failure in negotiations with the US and NATO on “security guarantees,” Russia refused to remove its troops from the border . Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that Russia was “forced” to leave its troops near Ukraine because it “cannot put up with a NATO invasion.”

In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry began to blackmail the EU with a “difficult scenario” for Ukraine. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov claimed that Putin was being advised to “finish” the Ukraine issue . He did not specify the details of the “scenario”, because even this could “destabilize” the situation.

The White House still does not know what Putin is up to, but hopes for a diplomatic settlement of the crisis on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Putin began to pull Russian troops to the borders of Ukraine in the spring of 2021, the situation escalated in November 2021. Western and Ukrainian intelligence confirms the Kremlin’s offensive plans. For a new invasion, Russia can use at least 100,000 troops. This can happen as early as winter.

At the same time, the Pentagon noted that before the offensive, Russia may try to conduct a special operation in eastern Ukraine against its own occupying forces in order to have a reason to send troops.

(C)UNIAN 2022