President of the United States, Joe Biden, has stated that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to invade Ukraine, and that an attack might occur in the “coming days.”
Mr. Biden stated that the assessment was based on US intelligence that predicted Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, would be targeted.
Russia denies any intention of invading.
Western countries accuse Russia of feigning a crisis in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern regions in order to justify an assault.
The US estimates that there are 169,000-190,000 Russian troops in and around Ukraine, including Russian-backed militants in eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
President Biden claimed the US has “reason to believe” that Russian forces were “planning to and intending to invade Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days” in a televised address from the White House.
“At this time, I am certain that he has made the choice,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The president and his top officials previously stated that they did not know whether or not this was the case.
He said, however, that Russia may “still choose dialogue” and that “it is not too late to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table.”
Leaders of the two separatist enclaves announced an evacuation of people earlier on Friday, in another sign of growing tensions, claiming Ukraine had intensified bombardment and was plotting an attack.
Ukraine has stated repeatedly that no strike is planned, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba dismissed “Russian disinformation reports.”
In a video purportedly shot on Friday, Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), announced the evacuation. However, a BBC investigation of the metadata revealed that it was shot two days prior to the escalation of hostilities.
President Putin, according to the Kremlin, has ordered refugee shelters to be put up near the border and “emergency” aid to be paid to anyone arriving from separatist territories. Several buses carrying local inhabitants made their way to Russia, according to Russian state media.
The announcement of evacuations was described by the US State Department as a “cynical” ploy by Moscow to “distract the world from the fact that Russia is beefing up its forces in preparation for an attack.” The evacuations, according to the White House, are an example of Moscow employing disinformation as a pretext for conflict.