The president of United States, Joe Bidensaid this Friday, February 18, that he is “convinced” that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine, But he added that there is still room to choose between “war” and “diplomacy.”
“I’m convinced that has made the decision. We have reason to believe that,” Biden said in remarks from the White House, noting that an attack could occur in the next “week” or “days”.
“We believe that will attack the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, a city of 2.8 million innocent inhabitants”, explained the head of state of the United States.
“Until he does, diplomacy is always a possibility.”, he pointed out, however, and announced that the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, will meet on Thursday the 24th with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Europe.
Biden recalled that currently Russian soldiers surround Ukraine from different parts of the common border and from Belarus.
Asked if the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, should leave his country in the event of a Russian invasion, Biden indicated that “it may be a wise choice.”
For this reason, he justified that the United States is giving account of Moscow’s alleged plans: “Not because we want a conflict, but because we are going to do everything in our power to eliminate the reason Russia can use to invade Ukraine and prevent them from moving.
In this sense, he insisted that Russia is looking for create a pretext and relies on disinformation to justify an attack on the neighboring country.
Biden warned that if Russia finally invades Ukrainian territory will be “responsible” for an “unnecessary and catastrophic” war what you have chosen to do.
Throughout his speech, the US president emphasized the “unity” between the US and its allies against Russia and once again threatened to impose sanctions on Moscow in the event of an attack on Ukraine.