US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed misinformation that he said Russia continues to spread as it targets Ukraine and possible ways Moscow may attack, saying he hoped to “influence Russia to abandon the path of war and choose a different path while there's still time.”
"We don't know precisely how things will play out. But here's what the world can expect to see unfold," Blinken said.
"First, Russia plans to manufacture a pretext for its attack. ... We don't know exactly the form it will take. It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia. The invented discovery of the mass grave, a staged drone strike against civilians or a fake, even a real attack using chemical weapons," he said.
"Russia may describe this event as ethnic cleansing or a genocide, making a mockery of a concept that we in this chamber do not take lightly, nor do I take lightly based on my family history. In the past few days, Russian media has already begun to spread some of these false alarms and claims to maximize public outrage, to lay the groundwork for an inventive justification for war. Today, that only intensified in Russia's state controlled media. We've heard the allegations from Russian backed speakers here today," Blinken continued.
Then, he said, "the highest levels of the Russian government may theatrically convene crisis and Russia must respond to defend citizens or ethnic Russians in Ukraine."
There may be conventional attacks, or they could take the form of cyberattacks and could target specific groups of Ukrainians, he said.
He also warned that Russia is planning to “target specific groups of Ukrainians.”
CNN's Michael Conte, Jennifer Hansler and Christin Sierra contributed reporting to this post.
