Downing Street warns Russia’s ‘playbook’ to launch military action in Ukraine has started to ‘play out in real time’

Downing Street has suggested on Monday that Vladimir Putin’s “playbook” for launching an attack in Ukraine has started to “play out in real time.”

On Monday the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss held talks in Brussels with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg over the ongoing crisis.

The Foreign Secretary said today that it “looks highly likely” Russia will invade Ukraine and NATO and the UK are “stepping up preparations for the worst case scenario.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman was asked over Truss’s comments, he said, “That is our assessment.

“The intelligence we’re seeing suggests Russia intends to launch an invasion and that President Putin’s plan has already begun, in effect.

“We’re seeing elements of the Russian playbook that we would expect to see in those certain situations start to play out in real time.

“We’ve been working with NATO allies to call that out when we see it.

“The intelligence we have suggests that they still intend to launch an invasion and we stand ready to act as needed.

“But, crucially, we still think there is a window for diplomacy – as we’ve seen with discussions over the weekend – and we want to explore those.”

Truss has warned that Vladimir Putin “will not stop” if he invades Ukraine as he will attack more countries as he wants to recreate the fallen USSR.

On Sunday the Foreign Secretary warned that Putin wants to “turn the clock back” and will attempt to regain control of “huge swathes of Eastern Europe” to recreate the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Truss told the Mail on Sunday, “We need to stop Putin because he will not stop at Ukraine.

“He’s been very clear, his ambition doesn’t just lead to him taking control of Ukraine, he wants to turn the clock back to the mid 1990s or even before then.”