Biden to speak on Russia-Ukraine crisis today
“It’s very high because they have not moved any of their troops out. They have moved more troops in, number one. Number two, we have reason to believe they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine,” he said.
The Friday remarks come amid escalating tensions as US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Michael Carpenter warned earlier Friday that the US has assessed a significant Russian military buildup near Ukraine just in the last two weeks.
“Russia probably has massed between 169,000-190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine as compared with about 100,000 on January 30,” he said in a statement at the OSCE meeting. That includes Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine as well as the Russian-led forces in eastern Ukraine, which have not been included in previous US assessments of Russia’s strength in the area.
Shortly before his remarks, Biden is set to speak Friday afternoon with allies in North America and Europe. He will hold a phone call with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO to discuss the ongoing crisis.
Biden has predicted a Russian invasion of Ukraine before but has previously couched his forecast by saying Putin hadn’t made up his mind, and he has repeatedly pressed for further diplomatic efforts to avoid a military conflict. He was more definitive on Thursday, a day after US officials said 7,000 more Russian troops have arrived near Ukraine, contradicting earlier Russian claims of a pull-back.
Pressed on whether he believes an attack will happen — and when — Biden said: “Yes. My sense is it will happen in the next several days.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
