Russian Tanks Rolling Into Ukraine's Capital 'Highly Likely': Lloyd Austin

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned on Sunday that Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine's capital Kyiv is a "highly likely" possibility as the Biden administration and NATO allies continue to warn that Moscow plans to invade its Eastern European neighbor.

Tensions have been high between Moscow and Kyiv since 2014, when Russia backed a separatist movement and annexed the Crimean peninsula. Russia has also supported Ukrainian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk fighting against the central government in Kyiv.

The situation has escalated in recent weeks, however, with Russia amassing some 150,000 troops around Ukraine. President Joe Biden and Western European nations have warned of an imminent invasion of Ukraine, urging their citizens to leave the country. Austin discussed the situation on ABC News' This Week when journalist Martha Raddatz asked him if Russian tanks would be rolling into Kyiv.

"You could see that. I mean, that's highly likely," the defense secretary responded. "You could see a significant amount of combat power move very quickly down to take Kyiv."

Austin assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has assembled "the kinds of things that you would need to conduct a successful invasion."

CBS News reported on Sunday that the U.S. has intelligence showing that Russian military commanders have been given the order to invade Ukraine. In Friday remarks about the crisis, Biden said that he was "convinced" Putin had decided to launch the invasion.

Western leaders and diplomats have scurried around Europe and to Kyiv and Moscow in recent days as they attempt to avert an attack. Meanwhile, fighting between Ukrainian separatists and Ukrainian forces has escalated over the weekend, with both sides accusing the other of provocations.

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said Friday that Moscow does not plan to invade Ukraine.

"I would like first of all to draw the attention to repeated statements by the Russian leadership that we don't have any aggressive plans toward the brotherly people of Ukraine," the Russian diplomat said on the embassy's Facebook page.

"The statements that Russia is responsible for the escalation can't be treated as anything else but an attempt to apply pressure and devalue Russia's proposals on security guarantees," Antonov added, accusing the U.S. of feeding "downright lies to the public."

Antonia Colibasanu, a Romania-based senior analyst with Geopolitical Futures, told Newsweek that the U.S. and NATO response to Russia's threats has worked to counter Putin's goals.

"Russia had to establish control over Ukraine and the threat of an attack—not an attack—was a way to start negotiations with the West and show Ukraine that the West has further weakened and can't really stand up to a Russian threat," she assessed. "So far, Russia managed to show the reverse."

The U.S. and European allies have warned Russia that they will be united with strong sanctions targeting Moscow if an invasion proceeds. Biden asserted that the multi-billion Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project connecting Russia to Germany would come to an end. Germany has signaled it's on board with that threat as well.

But some analysts believe Putin isn't deterred by sanctions.

"Sanctions work if they can promise costs sufficient to overcome the benefit the sanctioned state expects. It seems to me that sanctions won't work here because Russia is probably willing to pay pretty steep costs to neutralize Ukraine," Benjamin H. Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, told Newsweek.

Putin suggested he isn't concerned about more sanctions, saying that the U.S. and Western allies would find an excuse to implement them regardless of the tensions.

"Sanctions will be imposed in any case. Whether they have a reason today, for example, in connection with the events in Ukraine, or there is no such reason - it will be found, because the goal is different, in this case the goal is to slow down the development of Russia," the Russian president said during a Friday press conference.