WASHINGTON — President Biden said on Friday that the United States had intelligence showing that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had made a final decision to invade Ukraine.
“We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to, intend to, attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,” Mr. Biden said in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”
Asked whether he thought that Mr. Putin was still wavering, Mr. Biden said, “I’m convinced he’s made the decision.” Later he added that his impression of Mr. Putin’s intentions was based on U.S. intelligence.
Previously, the president and his top national security aides had said they did not know whether Mr. Putin had made a final decision to follow through with his threat of an invasion of Ukraine.
Still, Mr. Biden implored Russia to “choose diplomacy.”
“It is not too late to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table,” Mr. Biden said, referring to planned talks between Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Russia’s foreign minister next week. “If Russia takes military action before that day, it will be clear that they have slammed the door shut on diplomacy.”
Mr. Biden also underscored that the United States and its allies were united behind imposing severe economic sanctions if Russia’s forces cross Ukraine’s borders.
The president spoke after holding another round of virtual talks with European leaders on Friday afternoon.
Tensions in the region escalated as Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine called for a mass evacuation of the area on Friday, claiming that Ukraine government forces were about to attack. Western officials denounced that as Russia’s latest attempt to create a pretext for invasion.
Mr. Biden’s remarks follow a new assessment by American officials based in Europe that Russia has as many as 190,000 troops massed at the Ukrainian border and inside two pro-Moscow separatist regions, Donetsk and Luhansk.
Mr. Putin insisted on Friday that he was prepared for further diplomacy. But Russian officials said the country’s military would conduct drills over the weekend that would include the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles.
The prospect of testing the country’s nuclear forces added to the sense of foreboding in the region.
“We are ready to go on the negotiating track under the condition that all questions will be considered together, without being separated from Russia’s main proposals,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference.
