Biden says Russian invasion of Ukraine 'will happen in the next several days'

President Biden on Thursday said he believes an invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces is imminent, as U.S. officials continue to see no evidence that Moscow is drawing down its troops.

“They have not moved any of their troops out, they’ve moved more troops in,” Biden told reporters at the White House before departing for Cleveland. “We have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine."

“My sense is that it will happen in the next several days,” the president said.

Biden said he was open to a diplomatic solution and had expressed that to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he also said he has no plans to speak directly with the Russian leader.

His comments came before Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the United Nations Security Council on the threat that a Russian invasion of Ukraine poses to the United States and its NATO allies.

“The stakes go far beyond Ukraine,” Blinken said. “This is a moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people, as well as for the foundation of the United Nations charter.”

Blinken said that Putin “can announce today — with no qualification, equivocation or deflection — that Russia will not invade Ukraine.

“State it clearly, state it plainly to the world, and then demonstrate it,” Blinken said. “The world will remember that commitment, or the refusal to make it.”

Earlier Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said there are now about 150,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s border, a figure that has increased in the last several days.

“The Russians say they are withdrawing some of those forces, but we don’t see that. Quite the contrary,” Austin said in a speech in Brussels. “We see some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea. We even see them stocking up their blood supplies.

“You don’t do these sorts of things for no reason,” Austin added. “And you certainly don’t do them if you are getting ready to pack up and go home.”

The Kremlin has rejected claims that it is not drawing down its troops, saying it takes time to wind down military exercises.

Meanwhile, the State Department said Russia has expelled U.S. deputy chief of mission to Russia Bart Gorman, the No. 2 American diplomat in Moscow, in what the U.S. described as an “unprovoked” action.

And the Pentagon said Wednesday that Russian aircraft intercepted U.S. Navy patrol planes in an “unprofessional” manner three separate times over the weekend, in one incident coming within 5 feet of an American plane.