Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin has made up his mind to invade pro-Western Ukraine, according to President Joe Biden, whose announcement came against the backdrop of a suspected false flag operation by Russia in Eastern Ukraine.
Putin’s ‘Catastrophic and Needless War of Choice’
Putin has already amassed close to 200,000 Russian troops around Ukraine’s borders, surrounding it from three sides, including from Moscow’s puppet Belarus in the north, whose border is really to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Speaking on Friday afternoon, Biden told reporters at the White House he is certain Putin already made the decision to attack and invade Ukraine.
At the same time, he stated it is still possible for Russia to “choose diplomacy”, “de-escalate”, and come back to the diplomatic “negotiating table”.
Biden argued the US is doing all it can to devoid Russia of any reasons it may use in order to “justify invading Ukraine”.
The Kremlin keeps fabricating pretexts for its aggressive behaviour against #Ukraine, both on the ground and in the information sphere. We know this playbook and we will not be deceived. pic.twitter.com/N8wJx7xxCq
— EUvsDisinfo (@EUvsDisinfo) February 19, 2022
Kyiv remains absolutely calm and stable.
Not a whisper of any sort of unrest, panic buying, or people leaving the city in masses.
Russia’s attempts to demoralize and destabilize Ukraine’s population is failing miserably.— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) February 19, 2022
False Flag Operation and Other Russian Proxies’ Moves
Biden’s latest announcement reiterated numerous US and NATO warnings that Putin might unleash Russia’s military might upon Ukraine any day now.
Ten days ago, German magazine Der Spiegel cited US intelligence information as claiming the attack may come on February 16, a prognosis that failed to materialize.
Most international security experts, however, have been convinced a Russian attack on Ukraine would occur only after the end of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Otherwise, Chinese leader Xi Jinping would be angry with Putin for stealing global news focus from the sporting event that China’s ruling communists somehow see as a good way of boosting their global image.
Biden’s warning that Putin already decided to wage war comes amid several developments pointing in the same direction.
Ukraine has warned that pro-Russian separatists – or de facto Russian forces – in the occupied parts of Donbass are increasing artillery shelling, including heavy artillery fire on 20 towns and villages.
The authorities of the occupied territories have also started to evacuate their population into Russia. Denis Pushilin, the head of part of the Russian proxies in Donetsk, Donbass, ordered a full mobilization, the Daily Mail reported.
Also on Friday, in Luhansk, the other big city under separatist occupation, the separatists announced they are evacuating 700,000 women, children, and elderly to Russia for security reasons.
Most notably, however, there have been giant explosions of a natural gas pipeline in the occupied city of Donetsk, seemingly carried out the Russian forces.
The explosions in question may be a false flag operation used by Putin as a fake justification for starting a war.
Ukraine’s government in Kyiv has denied any plans to attack the Russian proxies in Donbass, or to stage any kinds of provocations. At this point in time, only time is going to tell what happens.
Filming today with citizen militias in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/5YTTl6VV0D
— Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan) February 19, 2022
We're calling out Russia’s plans. Not because we want a conflict, but because we are doing everything in our power to remove any reason Russia may give to justify invading Ukraine.
If Russia pursues its plans, it will be responsible for a catastrophic and needless war of choice.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 19, 2022
We’ve seen reports of a major uptick of violations of the ceasefire by Russian-backed fighters attempting to provoke Ukraine — and we continue to see more disinformation pushed out to the public.
All of this is consistent with the playbook that the Russians have used before. pic.twitter.com/0HHiCRxcTf
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 19, 2022