White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that the Ukraine crisis is extremely dangerous and that Russia could launch an attack at any point.
U.S. President Joe Biden's top diplomat will visit Kyiv this week after talks with Russia ended in a stalemate last week amid concerns in the United States and other Western nations that Moscow is preparing to again invade Ukraine.
Psaki said it was Russian President Vladimir Putin who sparked the crisis by amassing 100,000 Russian troops along Ukraine's borders and moving forces into Belarus for joint exercises and conducting additional exercises on Ukraine's eastern border.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Ukraine this week, the State Department announced earlier, amid continued western concerns that Russia is preparing for an invasion.
Blinken is departing Tuesday and the department billed the trip as part of continued "extensive diplomacy with our European Allies and partners about a united approach to address the threat Russia poses to Ukraine and our joint efforts to encourage it to choose diplomacy and de-escalation in the interests of security and stability."
Psaki said Blinken will "highlight very clearly there's a diplomatic path forward.
"It is the choice of President Putin and the Russians to make whether they are going to suffer severe economic consequences or not," she added.
