US has intel that Russian troops have orders to invade Ukraine: report

U.S. intelligence has received information saying Russian military commanders have been given orders to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine, CBS News reported on Sunday.

“They’re doing everything that American commanders would do once they got the order to proceed,” the network’s national security correspondent, David Martin, said while appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“The intelligence says that Russian troops have actually received orders now to proceed with the invasion. So not only are they moving up closer and closer to the border and into these attack positions, but the commanders on the ground are making specific plans for how they would maneuver in their sector of the battlefield,” said Martin.

NEWS: The U.S. has intelligence that Russian troops have received orders to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine. “The commanders on the ground are making specific plans for how they would maneuver in their sector of the battlefield,” CBS David Martin reports on @FacetheNation. pic.twitter.com/uKsfdWRQjV

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 20, 2022

This report comes just days after President Biden said he was “convinced” that Russia was planning on invading Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Biden’s remarks this while appearing on “Face the Nation,” telling host Margaret Brennan on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “moving forward” with an invasion.

“Everything we’re seeing tells us that the decision we believe President Putin has made to invade is moving forward,” Blinken said, pointing to recent provocations as well as the news that joint Russian and Belarusian military exercises would be extended indefinitely, originally having been set to end on Sunday.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on Martin’s report.