President Joe Biden reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday to brace his country for a certain Russian invasion. Biden told Zelensky that an invasion is virtually certain and to ‘prepare for impact,’ He said Kiev could be ‘sacked’ by Russian forces.
He reportedly said Ukraine would not be getting significantly more military help, including reiterating that no U.S. troops would be deployed there, nor would there be preemptive sanctions on Russia or any progress with NATO.
A Ukrainian official said that the call between the two leaders ‘did not go well.’ The warning was not part of a White House readout provided after the call – and the spokesperson for the National Security Council Emily Horne called CNN’s reporting ‘not true’ in a tweet. ‘This is not true.
President Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February. He has previously said this publicly & we have been warning about this for months.
Reports of anything more or different than that are completely false,’ Horne wrote. Biden has been leading attempts to build a united Western front against Russian military pressure on Ukraine, which has angered Moscow by seeking to integrate with the West.
More than 100,000 Russian troops are massed on Ukraine’s borders. In the call with Zelensky, Biden “reaffirmed the readiness of the United States along with its allies and partners to respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine,” a readout from the White House said. Biden “underscored the commitment of the United States to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The White House National Security Council was forced to issue a hasty denial late Thursday of a report that President Biden warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that a Russian invasion of his country was almost certain and that he should be ready for a “sack” of the capital city Kiev.
