Russia could drag out Ukraine crisis 'for months': UK foreign secretary

Truss warned of "severe economic costs for Russia" if it did invade, adding that it would make it "unconscionable" for its lucrative Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe to go ahead.

Russia could drag out the Ukraine crisis for "months" in a challenge to western unity, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Thursday, ahead of a visit to Kyiv.

Members of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service keep watch at the Kliusy checkpoint near the frontier with Russia in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine February 16, 2022.  (Reuters file photo)

Truss warned of "severe economic costs for Russia" if it did invade, adding that it would make it "unconscionable" for its lucrative Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe to go ahead.

The United States on Wednesday dismissed reports that Russia was withdrawing troops and accused Moscow of sending more soldiers.

"There is currently no evidence the Russians are withdrawing from border regions near Ukraine," Truss wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

She said Moscow "could drag this out much longer in a brazen ploy to spend weeks more - if not months - subverting Ukraine and challenging Western unity.

Britain's head of military intelligence said late Wednesday that "contrary to their claims, Russia continues to build up military capabilities near Ukraine.

"This includes sightings of additional armoured vehicles, helicopters and a field hospital moving towards Ukraine's borders. Russia has the military mass in place to conduct an invasion of Ukraine," he said.

Foreign minister Truss will leave London on Thursday to visit several European countries as part of diplomatic efforts to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

She will meet Ukrainian and Polish counterparts during visits to both nations, before attending the Munich Security Conference in the southern German city on Saturday.

"Our friends such as Ukraine and Poland have lived in the constant shadow of such threatening behaviour for generations. That is why we must be unyielding in defence of self-determination and sovereignty," she wrote.

Russia is demanding a ban on Ukraine from entering NATO, but Truss said "we must preserve NATO's open door policy and Ukraine's right to choose its own path."

British defence minister Ben Wallace, speaking to Sky News, warned Russia President Vladimir Putin that Moscow's aggressive military actions in 2014 resulted in "more troops on your borders, more defence spending throughout NATO.

"That is the strategic error Putin is potentially about to make," he added.