National security adviser says Russia could invade Ukraine before Olympics conclude

At a White House briefing on Friday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. had not made a determination whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine but said it could come before the end of the Beijing Olympics. This contradicts previous reports that stated Russia wouldn't invade during the Olympics.

Video Transcript

- It sounds like you're saying that the assessment previously that Britain has not yet made a decision still stands. So I guess based on that, is it your assessment that it's more likely that invasion could happen now than previously believed?

JAKE SULLIVAN: Look, it's hard to assign percentage probabilities to any of this. We have to think about the range of scenarios that we confront, and it's our job to be ready for all of them. So what I will say is that the way that he has built up his forces and put them in place, along with the other indicators that we have collected through intelligence, makes it clear to us that there is a very distinct possibility that Russia will choose to act militarily.

And there is reason to believe that, that could happen on a reasonably swift time frame. Now, we can't pinpoint the day at this point, and we can't pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place even before the end of the Olympics.