WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken will address the United Nations Security Council Thursday morning as the crisis on Ukraine’s borders reaches a pivotal moment.

U.S. Linda Thomas Greenfield, Ambassador to United Nations told reporters Thursday morning on a phone call that she asked Blinken to speak to the international forum in advance of her scheduled visit with Vice President Kamala Harris at the Munich Security Conference.

“Our objective is to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. There is evidence that Russia is on its way to an invasion. Thomas-Greenfield stated that this is an important moment.

To show the world our deep commitment to diplomacy, Secretary Blinken has come to New York. She will also emphasize the need to deescalate. To make the world aware that we do everything possible to stop a war,” she said.

Blinken will be speaking at 10:00 am. ET, United Nations headquarters.

As pro-Russian separatists were accused of attacking Ukraine, diplomatic developments took place. attacking a villageThe border is close.

Blinekn’s visit to the UN occurs as Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, wraps up two-day meetings with NATO defense ministers.

Over the past months, U.S. allies and their Western counterparts have been watching a constant buildup in Kremlin force along Ukraine’s border with Russia or Belarus. This increased military presence is a reflection of Russia’s strategy before its illegal 2014 annexation in Crimea (a peninsula at the Black Sea), which caused international outrage and led to sanctions being imposed on Moscow.

According to the Kremlin, there is no evidence that Russia’s extraordinary deployment of troops equipped with military technology along Ukraine’s borders was a preparation for invasion. 

This week President Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to defend NATO members as the crisis on Ukraine’s border with Russia intensifies.

The United States will protect every square inch of NATO territory, with all its power. “An attack on one NATO country constitutes an attack against us all,” Biden stated, recalling Article 5, the collective defense rule of the alliance.

Biden declared Tuesday afternoon that Russia will continue to be a threat to the international order. He added that Washington’s allies would impose strong sanctions to “undermine Russia”‘s ability economically and strategically to compete.