WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday said that the U.S. has reason to believe that Russia will attack Ukraine’s capital within the coming days, calling the situation a “rapidly escalating crisis.”
Speaking from the White House, Biden said that he was “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already “made the decision” to invade Ukraine, but said that a diplomatic resolution remained on the table.
“It is not too late to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table,” Biden said.
Shortly before Biden spoke, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger told reporters that the U.S. believes that Russia was responsible for widespread cyberattacks against Ukrainian banks earlier this week.
“While of limited impact, this recent spate of cyber attacks in Ukraine are consistent with what a Russian effort could look like, and laying the groundwork for more disruptive cyberattacks accompanying a potential further invasion of Ukraine sovereign territory,” Neuberger said.
Biden’s televised speech marked the second time this week the president has spoken directly to the American public about U.S. efforts to help avert a war between Russia and Ukraine, as American officials have painted an increasingly grim picture in recent days of the potential for a diplomatic solution and warned that Moscow is giving no signs of de-escalation.
Vice President Kamala Harris was in Germany on Friday where she met with the head of NATO at the Munich Security Conference, reaffirming the United States’ commitment to the military alliance.
Biden on Friday afternoon held a phone call with transatlantic leaders to discuss developments in Eastern Europe.
Russian-backed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine announced an evacuation of their breakaway region’s residents to Russia on Friday, heightening fears that Moscow was planning to use an escalation in the long-running conflict as a pretext to invade. The move came amid a spike in shelling in the area.
Moscow has announced large-scale drills involving its nuclear forces starting Saturday that will be overseen by Putin and which stand to offer a reminder of the country’s nuclear might, as Europe faces its gravest security crisis since the Cold War.
Outside advisers to the White House have been urging Biden to do more to communicate to the American people the consequences a Russian invasion could have not just to international security, but also to the U.S. economy.
Russia’s status as one of the world’s largest energy suppliers means a disruption of supplies coming from the country could lead to a spike in the price of oil and natural gas that would affect U.S. consumers.
Russia is also a major global supplier of raw materials, such as aluminum, nickel, palladium and copper. Any disruption to the supply of those materials could rattle an already disrupted global supply chain, further adding to inflation, that is at its highest levels in decades.
In Biden’s remarks Tuesday, he warned Americans that “defending democracy and liberty is never without cost.”
Kristen Welker contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
