"Nobody knows whether it may have already started," he told NBC News’ Lester Holt. "And what is the possibility of this war if Ukraine will fall, in case Ukraine will? It's very hard to say…We've seen this 80 years ago, when the Second World War had started...nobody would be able to predict when the full-scale war would start."
Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24 – launching what analysts initially predicted would be a quick war to oust Zelenskyy’s government and replace it with Kremlin-friendly puppets.
President Biden announced another $1 billion in defensive aid to Ukraine Wednesday and went as far as to call Putin a "war criminal," but his administration has resisted Zelenskyy’s calls for a no-fly zone over Ukrainian skies, which NATO officials say would put the U.S.-led alliance in direct military conflict with Russia.
WH indicates Putin war criminal comment was off the cuff, not a policy shift
[IsraelTimes] White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State under Obama. A new American success story, under Biden she became spokeswoman for the whole administration, and she was even able to get her sister a job...says US President Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S. The guy who lost Afghanistan, aka Biden's Bungle...
was "speaking from his heart" in reaction to images of Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine when he called Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
a war criminal, indicating that his comment may not have larger policy implications.
"He was answering a direct question that was asked and responding to what he has seen on television," Psaki tells news hounds. "We have all seen barbaric acts, horrific acts by a foreign dictator in a country that is threatening and taking the lives of civilians — impacting hospitals, women who are pregnant, journalists, others."
"His remarks speak for themselves."
She says a review by the State Department regarding the war criminal designation, which has legal ramifications, is still ongoing.
"There is a legal process that... continues to be underway at the State Department," she says.