U.S. President Is "Convinced" Putin Has Decided to Invade Ukraine
"As of this moment, I'm convinced he's made the decision. U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that the Russian leader had made the decision to invade and would proceed accordingly," Biden said.
Vladimir Putin's last meeting with Joseph Biden in December 2021. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0
U.S. President Joe Biden says that according to the information available to him, he is now convinced that Vladimir Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine, almost all U.S. media report unanimously, referring to a U.S.-broadcast speech.
After a phone call with his NATO colleagues, the U.S. president accused the Kremlin of making up claims that Ukrainian forces were preparing attacks on Russian-speaking minorities in the country.
Rather, he said, he believed there was mounting evidence that the Russian president was creating a pretext for an attack in Ukraine's eastern regions.
U.S. intelligence agencies, he said, had concluded that the Russian leader had made the decision to invade and would proceed accordingly.
According to Biden, diplomacy could continue until troops from the Kremlin are deployed.
"As of this moment, I'm convinced he's made the decision," Biden said.
Biden's assessment came in the wake of the Kremlin's increasingly aggressive moves along the Ukrainian border, which have already been ongoing for more than a day.
Pro-Russian rebels in Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine also gave a troubling sign. According to their own statements, they began bringing civilians from the embattled region to Russia.