Putin has ‘made the decision’ to invade Ukraine: Biden

Joe Biden warns of ‘attack in the coming days’, citing significant US intelligence, as Josh Frydenberg clashes with Russia at G20 meeting.

US President Joe Biden delivers a national update on the situation at the Russia-Ukraine border at the White House in Washington overnight.

US President Joe Biden believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and that the attack could begin “in the coming days.”

“As of this moment, I’m convinced he’s made the decision. We have reason to believe that,” Mr Biden said, adding that Washington has “significant intelligence capability” to back the claim.

“We believe they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people,” he said of Russian forces.

But with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken scheduled to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, Mr Biden said there was still time for negotiations to defuse the crisis.

“Diplomacy is always a possibility,” he told a press conference overnight.

Mr Biden said Moscow was conducting a disinformation campaign, including accusing Kyiv of planning its own attack in order to create a pretext for a Russian invasion.

“There is simply no evidence to these assertions and it defies basic logic to believe the Ukrainians would choose this moment, with well over 150,000 (Russian) troops arrayed on its borders, to escalate a years-long conflict,” Mr Biden said.

“All these are consistent with the playbook the Russians have used before to set up a false justification to act against Ukraine,” Mr Biden said at the White House.

This Maxar satellite released on February 18 shows a view of Su-25 ground attack aircraft at Luninets Air Base in Belarus, about 50kms north of the Ukrainian border.

Josh Frydenberg aims Ukraine war salvo at Russians at G20 meeting

The US President’s latest warning come as after Australia and Russia clashed behind closed doors at a G20 ­finance ministers meeting in ­Jakarta, with Josh Frydenberg warning Russia that an invasion of Ukraine would deliver not only a human disaster but a devastating second shock to the global economy just as the world was ­recovering from Covid.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, the Treasurer said Russia was playing a “dangerous game” with the global economy that threatened to derail the pandemic recovery.

Mr Frydenberg’s comments follow Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s assessment that Russia and the Ukraine were on the cusp of all-out war.

Scott Morrison said on Friday an invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces was imminent. “I hope that does not occur, but I think what we are seeing leads us to fear the worst,” the Prime Minister said.

In a closed-door intervention on Thursday night leading into the first G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers for this year, Mr Frydenberg issued a warning to his Russian counterpart that an invasion of Ukraine, which the West now fears is imminent, would have far-reaching human and economic costs.

“On the global outlook, we face a range of important challenges,” Mr Frydenberg told the meeting in which Russian deputy finance minister Timur Maksimov was present.

“The current tensions surrounding Ukraine are deeply ­concerning, We call upon Russia to de-escalate tensions, the ­alternative would be disastrous in both human and economic terms. It is in our collective interest that these tensions are resolved ­peacefully.”

The remarks from Mr Frydenberg earned a swift response from Russia, which accused Australia and Canada of using the economic forum as a security meeting.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg adjusts his headphone during the opening ceremony of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Jakarta.

“I want to respond to some of my counterparts who seem to be turning the G20 into a UN Security Council: stop listening to the fake news,” Mr Maksimov is understood to have said.

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is understood to have issued a similar message, claiming that the knock-on economic consequences of an invasion of Ukraine would deliver a global shock to the economy worse than the pandemic.

Ms Freeland said she was worried the work the G20 was doing to recover could be jeopardised should Russia invade.

Speaking from Jakarta, Mr Frydenberg said the global shock of a conflict in eastern Europe would have devastating economic consequences on top of the human toll.

“Russia is playing a dangerous game with the global economy as tensions rise with Ukraine,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“Off the back of the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, a conflict between Russia and Ukraine represents a major threat to the global recovery from Covid-19.

“Already the threat of invasion is impacting equity and energy markets, sapping confidence out of the global economy. Europe in particular is vulnerable with Russia supplying around one-third of its natural gas and about one-quarter of its crude oil imports. Such reliance could leave Europe hostage to Russia’s next move.”