Level of threat of Russian invasion higher, but it has not crossed red mark - Kuleba

The level of threat of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased over the past month, but it has not crossed the red mark, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

According to Ukrinform, he stated this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"You know that there is a red mark at 37°C in the thermometer. We came close to this red mark last month, but we have not crossed it yet. […] A month ago we were two millimeters from the red mark, and now we are one millimeter from the red mark. We could have crossed it already, but we didn't. It means that diplomacy works. It does not bring the 'temperature' back to normal now, but it keeps it from growing," Kuleba said.

He added that now all efforts were still aimed at preventing the risk of military escalation by Russia.

According to Kuleba, there are now real opportunities for a diplomatic settlement. "This is exactly what we are working on with our partners," he said.

As was reported earlier, Russian-backed forces on December 27 committed ten ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine, one of them involving weapons banned under the Minsk agreements.

Two Ukrainian service members were wounded in enemy shelling. They are in grave condition.

Ukrainian defenders returned fire without using weapons proscribed by the Minsk agreements and forced the enemy to cease fire.

op