U.K. Ambassador To Ukraine Warns Cost Of Russian Invasion Will Be 'High' For Both Sides

KYIV -- The British ambassador to Ukraine says the international community must make it clear to Russia that the cost of an invasion would be “high” for both sides as the crisis over the Kremlin’s buildup of troops near the border reaches a “critical phase.”

Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, Melinda Simmons said Russia's massing of more than 100,000 soldiers and military hardware "is something that everybody should worry about.

"We all have to make clear to Russia that the cost of any kind of incursion into Ukraine would be as high for Russia as it would be for Ukraine. And it would be a high cost for Ukraine," Simmons said.

“And that's why there is so much diplomatic activity to try to make sure that Ukraine's borders are not breached. But it feels like we are in a quite critical phase at the moment,” she added.

Russia has insisted it has no plan to invade Ukraine but at the same time has said it wants guarantees on European security issues, including a commitment by NATO not to expand to countries like Ukraine, or another former Soviet republic, Georgia.

Ukraine has held firm in the face of the crisis, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the country will continue to pursue its goal of NATO membership despite Russia's anger and skepticism from some Western countries.

Simmons said no one wants to see lives lost on either side, so the international community must make clear “the costs” of aggression, “which I am not sure are entirely understood, even by the top of their [Russia’s] administration."

“The international community needs to show that there is no disagreement here in terms of what we are seeing and what Russia needs to do,” she said.