US Defense Secretary: Russia appears to have made the decision and is moving to a position to launch an attack

New York, USA (CNN) - US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday that Russia appears to have made the decision and is moving to sites from which it could launch an attack on Ukraine.

Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Austin told a press conference from Lithuania: "If you look at the position he is adopting today, it is clear that he made a decision and they are moving to the right positions to launch an attack."

On reaching a diplomatic solution, Austin said: "I think we should try until the last minute so that it is not possible."

It is noteworthy that Russian President Vladimir Putin began on Saturday military exercises with ballistic missiles, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, in a new escalating step in the crisis with Ukraine and the West.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko were observing the missile military exercises from the Kremlin's operations room.