Biden: Russia makes pretext to attack Ukraine, war starts in days

US President Joe Biden warned that Russia’s attack on Ukraine could begin in the coming days, Thursday (17/2/2022).

Biden also said Russia was likely to launch further events to have a pretext for war with Ukraine.

It is the latest sign of distrust from the West over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that he is withdrawing troops and is open to diplomacy.

Despite the diplomatic route, Biden predicts violence may be imminent.

When asked how high the threat level was for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden said the threat was very high.

“It (the threat) is very high because they haven’t moved their troops,” Biden said, as quoted by CNN.

[“They have moved more troops, number one.”

“Number two, we have reason to believe they were involved in a false flag operation in order to have a reason to enter (Ukraine).”

“Every indication we have is they are ready to go to Ukraine, attack Ukraine,” Biden said.

Biden had predicted a Russian invasion of Ukraine before but had previously written his forecast saying Putin had not made up his mind.

[He was more definitive on Thursday, a day after US officials said more than 7,000 Russian troops had arrived near Ukraine, contradicting earlier Russian withdrawal claims.

Pressed whether he believed an attack would occur and when, Biden said: “Yes. I think it will happen in the next few days.”

He was speaking moments before Foreign Minister Antony Blinken was due to address the UN Security Council, a last-minute stop before heading to Germany for the Munich Security Conference.

Vice President Kamala Harris also departed Thursday morning for the summit, where the Ukraine crisis is expected to dominate discussions among leaders and national security officials.

Biden said he asked Blinken “to go to the UN and make a statement today” to set a diplomatic path forward.

He said he also proposed a diplomatic route to Putin in a telephone conversation Sunday, which lasted more than an hour.

“There’s a way, there’s a way through this,” Biden said.