President Biden said he was “convinced” that Russian president Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, in comments to reporters at a White House press conference.
“Do you have any indication about whether President Putin has made a decision on whether to invade—do you feel confident that he hasn’t made that decision already?” a reporter asked.
“As of this moment I’m convinced he’s made the decision,” Biden responded. “We have reason to believe that.”
Shortly afterwards, another reporter asked Biden to clarify that statement.
“To be clear, you are convinced that President Putin is going to invade Ukraine? Is that what you just said a few moments ago?” the reporter asked.
“Yes, I did. Yes,” Biden said, adding that diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis are still on the table.
Earlier in the press conference, Biden said Russia will likely attack Ukraine within a week or so.
“We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week—in the coming days,” Biden said. “We believe they will target Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”
Biden’s remarks came hours after the White House blamed Russia for cyber attacks on Ukrainian banks and government institutions earlier this week.
The U.S. “believes that Russian cyber actors likely have targeted the Ukrainian government, including military and critical infrastructure networks, to collect intelligence and preposition to conduct disruptive cyber activities,” Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, told reporters.
“We believe that the Russian government is responsible for wide-scale cyber attacks on Ukrainian banks this week,” Neuberger added.
Russia has between 169,000 to 190,000 troops stationed near the Ukrainian border, Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said on Friday.