G7 foreign ministers warn Russia of "consequences" if Ukraine attacked

The Group of Seven industrialised nations has warned Russia of massive consequences and severe costs if President Vladimir Putin launches an attack on Ukraine.

The meeting in the northern English city of Liverpool came as U.S. intelligence assesses that Russia could be planning a multi-front offensive on Ukraine as early as next year, involving up to 175,000 troops.

The Kremlin denies any plans to invade and says the West is gripped by Russophobia.

Moscow says the expansion of NATO threatens Russia and has contravened assurances given to it when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

G7 delegates said they were united in their condemnation of Russia's military build-up near Ukraine and they called on Moscow to de-escalate.

According to a draft statement from the G7, "Russia should be in no doubt that further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost."

"We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of any sovereign state to determine its own future," it added.

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"Red line" that cannot be crossed

For Moscow, the growing NATO embrace of a neighbouring former Soviet republic - and what it sees as the nightmare possibility of alliance missiles in Ukraine targeted against Russia - is a "red line" it will not allow to be crossed.

Putin has demanded legally binding security guarantees that NATO will not expand further east or place its weapons close to Russian territory.

Washington has repeatedly said no country can veto Ukraine's NATO ambitions.

In 2014, Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine, prompting the West to slap sanctions on Russia.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that Putin told U.S. President Joe Biden that Russian troops posed no threat and that Moscow was being demonised for moving troops around its own territory.