Biden warns Putin of ‘swift and severe costs’ if Russia attacks Ukraine, White House says

“President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia,” the White House said in a statement. “President Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing.”

Fearing imminent conflict, a growing number of nations have called on their citizens to depart, while Washington and London began pulling back small groups of military personnel that have been on training missions in Ukraine.

Russia has pushed back fiercely against the warnings by the Biden administration that Moscow is on the verge of attack, accusing the West of hysteria and spreading disinformation even as Russian forces continue to hold major exercises near Kyiv’s borders.

However, Russia confirmed media reports Saturday that it was pulling its own diplomatic staff from Ukraine, citing “possible provocations by the Kyiv regime and third countries.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move was in response to other governments’ deciding to draw down their diplomatic corps and urging their citizens to leave.

“We conclude that our American and British colleagues apparently know about some military actions being prepared in Ukraine,” she said, according to a statement by the ministry.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan cautioned Friday that there is a “very distinct possibility” that Russia will invade Ukraine in a “reasonably swift time frame” and urged all U.S. citizens there to leave immediately. Sullivan could not confirm that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a final decision to attack, but he said that military action could begin “any day.” Sullivan added that a Russian attack would be “likely to begin” with aerial bombing and missile strikes, and “no one would be able to count on air or rail or road departures.”

Diplomats raced to steer the situation back from the brink Saturday but with little sign of progress. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Putin for more than 90 minutes Saturday, according to his office.

Putin also spoke by phone Saturday with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, his closest military ally, as the two countries staged massive military exercises that analysts warn could be used to launch an attack on Ukraine from the north, potentially part of a multipronged invasion.

The Kremlin said the two men spoke about “the situation around the reaction from the U.S. and NATO to the Russian proposals to work out long-term international-law security guarantees for Russia.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, warned Russia that invading Ukraine “would result in a resolute, massive, and united Transatlantic response,” according to the State Department.

Lavrov, for his part, accused Washington of engaging in a propaganda campaign against Russia, pursuing “provocative goals” and pushing its allies in Kyiv to resolve its crisis in the contested Donbass territory with force, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.

The State Department said consular services would be suspended in Kyiv from Saturday but that it would maintain a small number of staff at the consulate in Lviv in far western Ukraine to handle emergencies. U.S. citizens needing passport or visa assistance should apply to embassies in neighboring countries, it added.

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The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Saturday that Americans who chose to stay in Ukraine should not expect the U.S. government to come to their rescue in the run-up to a potential Russian attack. He urged them to leave the country while commercial flights and rail transport were still functioning.

“We do a great deal to provide support for our fellow citizens, but, as you know, there are real limits to what we are able to do in a war zone,” the official said.

The official said U.S. military support to Kyiv was continuing, including with a new shipment of ammunition expected to arrive Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Saturday it was pulling out 160 members of the Florida National Guard that have been on a training mission in Western Ukraine. The troops, which have been in Ukraine since late November, will be repositioned elsewhere in Europe.

A British junior defense minister also said Saturday that British military trainers in Ukraine would leave over the weekend. “There will be no British troops in Ukraine if there is any conflict with Russia,” James Heappey told Sky News.

The Kremlin has amassed about 130,000 heavily armed troops around Ukraine, from which it annexed Crimea in 2014. Moscow is also carrying out naval exercises near the southern coastline of mainland Ukraine, as well as a major training operation in Belarus — in striking distance of Kyiv — that analysts caution could be a precursor to an invasion.

Russia has denied it plans to attack Ukraine, an increasingly pro-Western former Soviet republic that Putin considers part of his sphere of influence. “The hysteria of the White House is more revealing than ever. The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At any price,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

In response to Sullivan’s briefing, Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy tweeted: “Our troops are still on our territory and I wonder if the US will invade #Ukraine itself — someone has to, after such a panic campaign.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Friday with his National Security and Defense Council to review military and diplomatic readiness. His government, which had tried to tamp down predictions of an imminent attack, sought to reassure citizens that Ukraine “remains stable and ready for various scenarios of events,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“At present, it is critically important to remain calm, to consolidate within the country, and to avoid actions that undermine stability and sow panic,” the ministry said.

The scene was calm at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv as staffers emptied the facility in a trickle Saturday afternoon, carrying bags to waiting taxis amid light snow. Others appeared prepared for a long night in the office. An embassy staffer met a delivery driver on the sidewalk and carried five pizzas into the gate.

An employee with USAID who declined to talk about the evacuation spoke of deep admiration of Ukraine. The capital is inviting and open, he said, and he would often walk home past the many parks.

Four maps that explain the Russia-Ukraine conflict

The U.S. assessment that Putin is likely to launch an attack is based partly on new intelligence that Russia is planning to conduct a false-flag operation to create a pretext for invading Ukraine, according to multiple officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration deliberations.

The precise date and nature of the alleged Russian operation was unclear. U.S. officials had earlier accused Russia of planning to stage and film a fake attack by Ukrainian military forces on Russia as a pretext for invasion.

Biden also held a video call Friday with the leaders of Western allies, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron. The officials said they were committed to diplomacy but warned of “massive consequences and severe economic costs” that would be imposed on Russia in event of an attack, according to a White House readout.

Germany on Saturday joined a growing list of governments urging their citizens to get out of Ukraine as soon as possible. Britain, Latvia, Norway, the Netherlands, South Korea and Japan and others have issued similar advisories in recent days. Israel says it will begin to evacuate the families of diplomatic staff based in Ukraine. The executive arm of the European Union has not moved its staff though it is monitoring for escalation, Reuters reported Friday.

Diplomatic efforts remained at an impasse. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said after a Friday meeting in Moscow with his British counterpart, Ben Wallace, that the level of cooperation between Russia and the West “is close to zero and about to cross the zero meridian and go into negative,” according to media reports.

Moscow has demanded that Ukraine be permanently barred from joining NATO and that the Western defense alliance withdraws its military presence from Eastern Europe. NATO has refused to budge on its open door policy, though Washington has offered to negotiate on issues the Kremlin considers of “secondary” importance.

Germany’s Scholz, who heads to Moscow on Tuesday, is the next Western leader slated to meet Putin in person. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, whose Green party is more skeptical of Moscow than Scholz’s Social Democrats, suggested Friday that the approval of the Nord Stream 2 energy pipeline between Russia and Germany could be contingent on the Kremlin holding its troops back.

Tension along Ukraine’s borders continued to be high, with Russia about to kick off the third day of military exercises in Belarus, the largest it has ever conducted in the Kremlin-allied state to Ukraine’s north.

On the second day of the maneuvers, the Russian military touted field training on land and in the air. Fighter jet crews practiced destroying approaching aircraft, and Russian motorized rifle units paired with Belarusian special operations forces to attack mock troop formations. Marine scouts also led classes on ambush tactics and surveillance, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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The Russian buildup has drawn European nations closer to the United States. U.S. officials confirmed Friday that an additional 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division would be sent to Poland, adding to the 1,700 troops already dispatched to that country. And Finland, a non-NATO member that has close ties with both Russia and the alliance, announced Friday that it was purchasing military assets from the United States.

As the threat of a military conflict looms over Kyiv, the desire for peace was expressed by Ukrainians as far away as Beijing. Skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych held up a sign that read “No War in Ukraine” after crossing the finish line Friday, the first major political statement made during the Winter Games.

Cheng reported from Seoul. Alex Horton in Kyiv, Karen DeYoung and Tyler Pager in Washington and Michael E. Miller in Sydney contributed to this report.