Capital Kiev as destination
Biden: Putin has decided to attack Ukraine
02/18/2022, 11:17 p.m
For weeks, the United States has been warning of an impending invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. Now Biden is getting specific. The US President is convinced that the die has been cast in the Kremlin for an attack. He also fears an attack on the capital Kiev.
According to US President Joe Biden, Russia is planning an early attack on Ukraine and also on its capital Kiev. Biden said in the White House that he was “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin made the decision to invade neighboring Ukraine.
“We have reason to believe that the Russian military is planning and planning to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days.” He added: “We believe they will attack the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”
The US government is speaking so openly about Russia’s plans to thwart Moscow’s efforts to attack Ukraine under a pretext, Biden said. If Russia should go ahead with its plans, it would be responsible for a “catastrophic” and self-initiated war. So far, the US government has always emphasized that it does not know whether Putin made a decision to invade Ukraine.
Russia is trying to portray Ukraine as an aggressor, using misinformation such as an allegedly planned offensive in the eastern Donbass region. “There is no evidence to support these claims and it is contrary to common sense to think that Ukrainians would choose this moment, with more than 150,000 troops on the border, to escalate a years-long conflict,” Biden said. The Ukrainian military has so far acted with good judgment and also “restraint”. “They refuse the Russians to drag them into a war.”
Biden emphasized the unity of the West towards Putin. “Despite Russia’s efforts to divide us at home and abroad, I can confirm that this has not happened,” Biden said. He spoke to US congressmen at the security conference in Munich and to western heads of state and government. The “overwhelming message” of both talks was unity and determination. Biden stressed that it was not too late to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
“The entire free world is united”
After his brief appearance in the White House, Biden wrote on Twitter: “The American people are united. Europe is united. The transatlantic community is united. The entire free world is united.” The US President added: “Russia has a choice – between war and all the suffering it will bring – or diplomacy that will make the future safer for all.”
After their phone call, Western leaders – including Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz – called on Russia to “give an urgently needed signal of de-escalation.” Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced that there was agreement on this expectation of Moscow at a conference call by Scholz, Biden and other European and transatlantic partners in the evening. Everyone agreed that the threat of a Russian attack on Ukraine was very real. The central task now is to keep the window open for diplomacy.
“The costs for Russia would be immense”
The West fears that the transfer of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers to the border with Ukraine could serve to prepare for war. Russia rejects this. In addition to Biden and Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also took part in the conference call.
The US government again warned of dramatic economic consequences in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. Deputy White House National Security Advisor Daleep Singh said that should Moscow decide to invade the neighboring country, Russia would become isolated from global financial markets and lose access to cutting-edge technologies. “The cost to Russia would be immense,” Singh warned. “Russia would face major capital outflows, growing pressure on its currency, rising inflation, higher borrowing costs, economic collapse and a decline in its productive capacity.”