Europe “could be on the brink of war”, the foreign secretary has warned.

Liz Truss said she was “very worried” about the prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ms Truss described the possibility as “imminent and highly likely”.

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, the foreign secretary said: “We could be on the brink of a war in Europe, which would have severe consequences not just for the people of Russia and Ukraine, but also for the broader security of Europe.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: (PA)(PA)

“There is still time for Vladimir Putin to step away from the brink. But there is only a limited amount of time for him to do that.”

She added: “It’s still the case that an invasion could be imminent and it is highly likely. What we are doing is pursuing the path of deterrence and diplomacy, urging Vladimir Putin to step back from the brink.

“He currently has 100,000 troops stationed on the Ukrainian border. We want those troops to be moved, but, of course, we are preparing for the worst.”

However, Ms Truss noted Russian President Vladimir Putin could still “change his mind”.

She added: “We know or we believe that Vladimir Putin has not yet made a decision about whether to invade Ukraine. We think it’s highly likely.

“There are huge numbers of troops lined up on the border. We know that they’re in a position to attack imminently, but he can still change his mind and that is why diplomacy is so vital.”

When asked how quickly Russians could move to the Ukrainian capital if they decide to invade, Ms Truss told Sky News: “Very, very quickly. They have troops stationed around Ukraine. So, there could be an attack on Kyiv. There could be an attack from the east.

“What we also suspect is there could be a false flag operation. There could be false claims that they have been provoked to give a pretext for Russian invasion.

“What we have been doing is we’ve been calling out the Russians, we’ve been exposing their attempts to put a puppet government into Kyiv, we have been exposing their attempts to create a pretext.

“What we do expect over the next few days is there could be an attempt of a false flag operation to create a pretext to claim the Ukrainians are attacking them, so that the Russians have a justification for invading Ukraine.”