US officials said if Moscow does opt for a full-scale attack, the invading force could take the capital Kiev and topple Zelensky in a matter of 48 hours.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day”, launching a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost”.
The senior adviser to President Joe Biden offered another stark warning the day after US officials confirmed that Russia has assembled at least 70% of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
They estimated such an attack would leave 25,000 to 50,000 civilians dead, along with 5,000 to 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 3,000 to 10,000 Russian ones.
It could also trigger a refugee flood of one to five million people, mainly into Poland, the officials added.
Elite US troops and equipment landed on Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine on President Joe Biden’s orders to deploy 1,700 soldiers there amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division are still expected to arrive at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport.
A US Army Boeing C-17 Globemaster plane brought a few dozen troops and vehicles.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday told the ARD broadcaster that Germany was prepared to send extra troops to the Baltic states, ahead of a key trip to Washington where he will seek to bolster his influence in the Ukraine crisis.
Germany leads a Nato operation in Lithuania and has around 500 soldiers stationed there.
Asked whether Washington saw Germany as the “weakest link” in Nato, Scholz replied: “That is a false impression that does not prevail in Washington either.”
