President Joe Biden for the first time on Friday said he believed President Vladimir Putin had made up his mind to invade Ukraine.
He delivered his verdict at the end of an intense week of diplomacy and amid reports of explosions in territory held by pro-Russian separatists which officials believe could be false-flag attacks and a precursor to an invasion.
After delivering an update on the crisis, Biden was asked if Putin had made up his mind.
‘As of this moment, I’m convinced he’s made the decision,’ he told reporters at the White House. ‘We have reason to believe that.’
He said it was based on Washington’s ‘significant intelligence capability.’
But he insisted Putin could change course if he wanted to.
‘Russia can still choose diplomacy,’ he said. ‘It is not too late to deescalate and return to the negotiating table.’
His revelation came amid another day of high drama as Russia appeared to step up its preparations for war.
Pro-Russian rebels began evacuating civilians from their territory in eastern Ukraine.
Hours after the operation began a car-bomb exploded in their capital Donetsk, followed by a second explosion later in the evening in Luhansk – triggering warnings that these might be the ‘false flag’ operations that would precede an invasion.
Latest US assessments say there are now 190,000 Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border.
That includes a battle group deployment of tanks, personnel carriers and support equipment at Millerovo Airfield, 16 miles from the Ukraine border, according to new satellite photos.
Meanwhile, the US and UK both said Russia was behind a distributed denial of service attack that knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline.
Taken together the events track with what officials said amounted to Russia’s invasion playbook.
Biden responded by dismissing the mounting volume of propaganda coming from Russia and its separatist rebels, saying there was no truth to reports of a genocide unfolding in the Donbass – the disputed area of East Ukraine – or that Ukrainian troops had shelled a kindergarten.
Biden called out reports of a Ukrainian genocide and that its troops had shelled a kindergarten as propaganda.
‘We also continue to see more and more disinformation being pushed out to the Russian public, including Russian backed separatists claiming that Ukraine is planning to launch a massive offensive attack in the Donbass,’ he said.
‘Well, look, there is simply no evidence to these assertions and it defies basic logic to believe the Ukrainians would choose this moment, with well over 150,000 troops arrayed on his borders to escalate a year long conflict.’
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Source: Daily Mail
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