Harris: 'We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe'

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by Doctor420Strange69
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Vice President Harris warned on Sunday that the world is looking at "the real possibility of war in Europe" and said that the U.S. may "incur some cost" if Russia invades Ukraine.

“It's been over 70 years ... as I mentioned yesterday, there has been peace and security. We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe," Harris told reporters at the Munich Security Conference.

Harris stated, however, that the Biden administration still believes that a "diplomatic end to this moment" would be in the best interest of all parties.

Harris was asked what Americans should be prepared for if war breaks out in Europe.

"When America stands for principles, and all of the things that we hold dear," Harris replied, "it requires sometimes for us to put ourselves out there in a way that maybe we will incur some cost and in this situation, that may relate to energy costs, for example, but we are taking very specific and appropriate, I believe, steps to mitigate what that cost might be if it happens."

Harris also seemingly responded to calls that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made for preemptive sanctions to be issued against Russia.

"We don't need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen, and after our country will be fired at or after we will have no borders or after we will have no economy or parts of our country will be occupied," Zelensky said at the Munich conference. "Why would we need those sanctions then?"

Harris on Sunday reiterated the U.S.'s stance that sanctions should be used for deterrence.

"I strongly believe and remember also that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as the United States, but a shared perspective among our allies, and the allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one," she said.

These remarks came shortly after hundreds of artillery shells exploded in eastern Ukraine along the contact lines between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists. Thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom have already been granted Russian citizenship, were evacuated to Russia by the separatists.

As The Associated Press noted, claims that Russian citizens are being endangered in Ukraine could be used by Moscow as justification for invading Ukraine.

On Sunday, a Belarusian defense official also said military exercises between Belarus and Russia would be extended, citing the "aggravation of the situation" in eastern Ukraine.

Lord_Grumbo on February 20th, 2022 at 15:44 UTC »

My favorite part is Putin doesn’t want NATO on his border so he’s gonna annex Ukraine and have NATO right in its border.

Proud3GnAthst on February 20th, 2022 at 14:29 UTC »

But I live in Europe!

snerdaferda on February 20th, 2022 at 13:58 UTC »

Does it ever get better? Honestly? I just turned 30 and want like, one day of not a global crisis since the day I was born and like just a little help with loans or helping my neighbor afford her groceries as political news. It gets tougher and tougher to bother waking up every day. When will anything change?