Former ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor said Sunday he doesn’t think Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will invade despite the massing of Russian troops on the border.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Taylor said “I think not” when asked about the possible move by Putin.
“It’s 55/45, but 45% chance that there’s a major war in Europe,” he said.
“You have to take it seriously,” he said. “You have to be prepared. You have to be ready, and these actions that we're talking about are designed to avoid that 45% and deter the war.”
Though no one knows what’s in Putin’s mind, Taylor said an invasion would be too costly.
"He might be bluffing,” Taylor said. “He might be just moving these troops up for purposes of…trying to intimidate [Ukraine] President [Volodymy] Zelensky or President [Joe] Biden or NATO. Or he might be serious about taking over Ukraine.”
And there are compelling reasons not to invade, Taylor argued.
“Rationally, it would be very, very costly, not just the economic sanctions that President Biden is talking about,” he said. “The number of Russian troops that would die would be very large, and Ukrainians as well. He would also lose, for example, that pipeline that is so important to him from Russia to Germany, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. It would be a very bad move for him and very costly. And that's why — that's why he wouldn’t.”
Taylor said, however, Ukrainians are not complacent about the threat from Russia.
“You …heard those Ukrainian troops say they're ready to die,” he said. “They're ready to defend their land. And they are,” he said. “They will fight fiercely. They have fought fiercely, as you say, for seven-and-a-half years. They will continue to do that.”
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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