Biden thinks Putin doesn’t want all-out war in Ukraine, adding ‘I think he’ll move on’

US President Joe Biden has said he believes Vladimir Putin does not want an all-out war in Ukraine, and that he will pay a «heavy price» if he goes ahead with a military incursion.

Biden, who was speaking at a news conference marking his first anniversary in office, said he also believed Russia was preparing to take action on Ukraine, although he did not think Putin had made a final decision.

He noted that it would limit Russia’s access to the international banking system if it invaded Ukraine.

«I’m not sure he’s sure what he’s going to do,» Biden said. «I think he will move in,» he added.

Biden’s comments came hours after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken accused Russia during a visit to Kiev of planning to reinforce the more than 100,000 troops it has deployed along the Ukrainian border, and suggested the number could double «in a relatively short order».

Blinken gave no further details, but Russia has sent an unspecified number of troops from the country’s far east to its ally Belarus, which also shares a border with Ukraine, for major war games next month.

The US president said he believed the decision would be «only» Putin, and indicated that he was not entirely confident that Russian officials with whom senior White House advisers negotiated were fully aware of Putin’s ideas.

«There is a question as to whether the people he’s talking to know what he’s going to do,» Biden said.

Biden also suggested that a «simple incursion» would elicit less of a response than a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying, «It is very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page.»

«He’s trying to find his place in the world between China and the West,» Biden said of Putin.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said it is ready to face the worst and will survive whatever difficulties it faces. The president urged the country not to panic.

Blinkin’s visit to the Ukrainian capital comes two days before his meeting in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This comes after a series of inconclusive talks last week which failed to ease escalating tensions.

Russian military activity has been increasing in recent weeks, but the United States has not concluded whether Putin was planning an invasion or whether the show of force was aimed at pressuring security concessions without a real conflict.

In 2014, Russia seized control of Crimea after ousting the Moscow-friendly Ukrainian leader and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

More than 14,000 people have been killed in nearly eight years of fighting between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces in the Donbass region, the country’s industrial heartland.