A spokesman for the British Prime Minister said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to invade Ukraine has actually "already begun.
Sky News reports that.
"The intelligence we are seeing indicates that Russia intends to proceed with the invasion and that President Putin's plan has actually already begun. We see that elements of the Russian scenario that we expect to see in certain situations are beginning to play out in real time," the British prime minister's spokesman said.
He stressed that intelligence indicates that Russia still intends to launch an invasion and "we are prepared to act if necessary."
"But most importantly, we still think there is a window for diplomacy - as we saw in our discussions over the weekend - and we want to explore it."
Recall that British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said after meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that Britain and its NATO allies are stepping up preparations for a worst-case scenario in Ukraine.
Earlier, Truss assured that Russia would receive a package of tough economic sanctions in case of an invasion. The minister was commenting on a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that sanctions are needed before an invasion, not "after a bombing."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that evidence suggests that Russia is planning the largest war in Europe since 1945.
