USA has reason to believe Putin has made decision to invade Ukraine – Biden

13:26, 19.02.2022 1 min read

The United States has reason to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden has said.

"As of this moment, I'm convinced he's made the decision. We have reason to believe that," Biden said during a press conference from the White House on Friday.

So he answered the question of whether there were signs that President Putin had decided to invade Ukraine.

Answering a clarification question about whether Biden was convinced that President Putin would invade Ukraine, the U.S .president replied: "Yes, I'm convinced. Yes."

However, he did not rule out a diplomatic settlement of the situation. "It is not too late to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table. Last night, Russia agreed that Secretary of State Blinken and Foreign Minister Lavrov should meet on February 24 in Europe. But if Russia takes military action before that date, it will be clear that they have slammed the door shut on diplomacy. They will have chosen war, and they will pay a steep price for doing so," he said.