- President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to carry out an attack on Ukraine “in the coming days.”
- The Biden administration has previously declined to predict Putin’s playbook even as Russia has deployed nearly half of its military to Ukraine’s borders.
- In his second address this week, Biden reiterated U.S. commitment to defending NATO allies should the crisis on Ukraine’s border with Russia spill over into an all-out war.
President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to carry out an attack on Ukraine “in the coming days.”
“We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”
The stunning revelation comes as an extraordinary number of Russian forces advance on Ukraine’s northern and eastern flank.
The increased military presence mimics Russia’s playbook ahead of its 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, which sparked international uproar and triggered sanctions against Moscow.
The Biden administration has previously declined to predict Putin’s playbook even as Russia has deployed nearly half of its military to Ukraine’s borders. When asked, Biden said that there was still time for Putin to choose a path of diplomacy.
In his second address this week, Biden reiterated U.S. commitment to defending NATO allies should the crisis on Ukraine’s border with Russia spill over into an all-out war.
“The United States and our allies are prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory from any threat to our collective security,” Biden said, evoking the alliance’s Article 5 rule.
A cornerstone of the 30-member alliance is the principle of collective defence, known as Article 5, which states that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all allies.
The Kremlin has denied that the more than 150,000 Russian troops outfitted with advanced military equipment along Ukraine’s borders are preparing for an invasion.
Biden issued fresh warnings that Washington’s allies were ready to impose powerful sanctions designed to undermine Russia’s ability to compete economically. Earlier in the week, Biden said Russia’s new gas pipeline with Germany, known as NordStream 2, would also be halted.
Biden said that while he would not commit to sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, he would approve troop deployments to NATO member countries. Earlier on Friday, Biden ordered more U.S. troops and military equipment to Hungary, a NATO ally that borders Ukraine.
President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to carry out an attack on Ukraine “in the coming days.”
“We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”
The stunning revelation comes as an extraordinary number of Russian forces advance on Ukraine’s northern and eastern flank.
The increased military presence mimics Russia’s playbook ahead of its 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, which sparked international uproar and triggered sanctions against Moscow.
The Biden administration has previously declined to predict Putin’s playbook even as Russia has deployed nearly half of its military to Ukraine’s borders. When asked, Biden said that there was still time for Putin to choose a path of diplomacy.
In his second address this week, Biden reiterated U.S. commitment to defending NATO allies should the crisis on Ukraine’s border with Russia spill over into an all-out war.
“The United States and our allies are prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory from any threat to our collective security,” Biden said, evoking the alliance’s Article 5 rule.
A cornerstone of the 30-member alliance is the principle of collective defence, known as Article 5, which states that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all allies.
The Kremlin has denied that the more than 150,000 Russian troops outfitted with advanced military equipment along Ukraine’s borders are preparing for an invasion.
Biden issued fresh warnings that Washington’s allies were ready to impose powerful sanctions designed to undermine Russia’s ability to compete economically. Earlier in the week, Biden said Russia’s new gas pipeline with Germany, known as NordStream 2, would also be halted.
Biden said that while he would not commit to sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, he would approve troop deployments to NATO member countries. Earlier on Friday, Biden ordered more U.S. troops and military equipment to Hungary, a NATO ally that borders Ukraine.
At the NATO headquarters, Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. and its allies still would prefer a diplomatic resolution to the crisis on Ukraine’s borders.
“Of course, one thing that Mr. Putin says he wants to do is to engage in more dialogue. As we have said all along, we would welcome that,” Austin said wrapping up a two-day meeting with NATO allies.
“As his deeds thus far tend to indicate, it will be clear to the entire world that we started a war with diplomatic options. It will be Mr. Putin who will bear the responsibility for the suffering and the immense sacrifice that ensues,” he said, calling on Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s borders.
Last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley told reporters at the Pentagon that Russia’s posture along Ukraine’s border was unlike anything he has seen during his four-decade military career.
He said the Russians have deployed air forces, naval forces, special forces, cyber electronic warfare, command and control, logistics engineers and other capabilities along Ukraine’s border.
“Given the type of forces that are arrayed, the ground manoeuvre forces, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air forces, all of it packaged together. If that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and it would result in a significant amount of casualties,” Milley said on Jan. 28.
“It would be horrific,” he added.
Source: CNBC
