White House no longer calls potential Russian invasion of Ukraine 'imminent'

PanARMENIAN.Net - The White House says it will no longer describe a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine as "imminent," suggesting the word sent an unintended message when officials used it last week.

"I used that once. I think others have used that once. And then we stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we weren't intending to send, which was that we knew (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin had made a decision," press secretary Jen Psaki told a briefing Wednesday.

"I would say the vast majority of times I've talked about it, we said he could invade at any time," she went on. "That's true. We still don't know that he's made a decision."

The decision to discontinue the use of "imminent" came after a rift emerged between US and Ukrainian officials over how best to describe the threat from Russia. While Biden and his senior officials have warned Putin could order troops over the border at any moment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has downplayed the prospects of imminent war, CNN reports.

The discrepancy caused some frustrations to break into the open. Last week, Psaki's description of an attack as "imminent" drew anger in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, disagreed, and said the descriptions could cause panic and economic turmoil.

"There is a feeling abroad that there is war here. That's not the case," Zelensky said during a news conference last Friday.