Biden: ‘Every indication’ Russia prepared to attack Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden warned Thursday that Russia could still invade Ukraine within days and Russia expelled the No. 2 diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, as tensions flared anew in the worst East-West standoff in decades.

NATO allies accused Russia of misleading the world by saying it was returning some troops to their bases but instead moved in thousands of new ones. The pullout pledge was among Russian gestures this week that briefly cooled temperatures. Russia is believed to have some 150,000 military forces around Ukraine's borders, raising fears of a new war in Europe.

Tensions also spiked along the line separating Ukrainian forces from Russia-backed separatists in the country's east, with both sides trading accusations of intensive shelling in a long-simmering conflict that has killed 14,000 people.

In a surprise blow to diplomacy, Russia ordered the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Bart Gorman, to leave the country, the State Department said. It called the move "unprovoked" and "an escalatory step." Russia did not say why he was expelled.

Concerns escalated in the West over what exactly Russia is doing with its troops around Ukraine — including an estimated 60% of the overall Russian ground forces — and about President Vladimir Putin's overall intentions.

Speaking at the U.N. Security Council on the crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sketched out in graphic detail how Washington contends any Russian attack would begin and unfold, revealing some conclusions of U.S. intelligence in a strategy the U.S. and Britain have hoped will expose and preempt any invasion planning. The U.S. has declined to reveal much of the evidence underlying its claims.

A sudden, seemingly violent event staged by Russia to justify invasion would kick it off, Blinken told U.N. diplomats.

"We don't know exactly" the pretext — a "so-called terrorist bombing" inside Russia, a staged drone strike, "a fake, even a real attack … using chemical weapons," he said.

It would open with cyberattacks, along with missiles and bombs across Ukraine, he said. Painting the U.S. picture further, Blinken described the entry of Russian troops, advancing on Kyiv, a city of nearly 3 million, and other "key targets that have already been identified and mapped out."

U.S. intelligence indicated Russia also would target "specific groups" of Ukrainians, Blinken said, again without giving details.

In an implicit nod to Secretary of State Colin Powell's appearance before the Security Council in 2003, when he cited unsubstantiated and false U.S. intelligence to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Blinken added: "Let me be clear. I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one."

Biden's own comments on the Russian threat also were some of his starkest to date, suggesting the administration's perilous assessment of the situation.

Speaking at the White House, he said Washington saw no signs of a Russian withdrawal, and said the threat of invasion remains "very high" because Russia has moved more troops toward the border with Ukraine instead of pulling them out.