in the word of providing for her family christ bob who is reading games. that's my precious more i gay in the game. my zimbabwe on al jazeera. ah, you as president joe biden, and other ne, totally does hold. gen talks on russia's military build up near the ukrainian border. ah, hello, i'm mary. i'm noisy in london, you're watching al jazeera also coming up on the program. the us release is frozen afghan assets, providing a 3 and a half $1000000000.00 boost for humanitarian aid or a deepening fears of a crisis. protest as risk jail and fines after

a state of emergency is declared in canada's ontario province. i call it a siege because that's what it is. it's an illegal occupation skating on thin ice a fell drugs test means the court will decide whether russia wins and olympic gold medal. ah. as the u. s. warns it a russian invasion of ukraine could be just stays away at western leaders of held a conference call to discuss the crisis. and actually, we're just getting an update now from washington where jen, saki is a speaking, actually it's so just that listening and hopefully get an update on diplomatic efforts that are not on the way. and actually, we're just going to hear now that was j jen. so give it a bit on birth, which is hearing now from us national security advisor, jake sullivan ration in russia and ukraine. and then i'd be happy to take your

questions. we continue to, to see the signs of russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the ukrainian border. as we've said before, we are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time, should vladimir putin decide to order it. i will not comment on the details of our intelligence information, but i do want to be clear, it could begin during the olympics despite a lot of speculation that it would only happen after the olympics. as we've said before, we are ready either way. we are ready to continue results oriented diplomacy that addresses the security concerns of the united states, russia and europe, consistent with our values and with the principle of reciprocity. we've continued to make that clear to russia in close coordination with our european allies and partners. we are also ready to respond decisively alongside those allies in partners should russia choose to take military action. our response would include

severe economic sanctions with similar packages imposed by the european union, the united kingdom, canada, and other countries. it would also include changes to nato and american force posture along the eastern flank of nato, and it would include continued support to ukraine. the president held a secure video conference conference today with key allies and partners to coordinate our approach to this crisis. the participants for the u. k. france, germany, italy, canada, poland, romania, the secretary general of nato, and the president of the european union. we have g, achieved a remarkable level of unity and common purpose from the broad strategy down to the technical details. if russia proceeds, it's long term power, an influence will be diminished, not enhanced by an invasion. it will face a more determined transit atlanta community. it will have to make more concessions

to china. it will face massive pressure on its economy and export controls that will, that road its defense, industrial base. and it will faith a wave of condemnation from around the world. if on the other hand, russia truly seeks a diplomatic outcome, it should not only say so, it should pursue that diplomatic outcome. we are prepared to do that. we have put concrete proposals on the table. they are now out there for the world to see or prepared to engage on them and to discuss the principles and parameters of european security with our european partners and with russia. whatever happens next, the west is more united than it's been in years. nato has been strengthened, the alliance is more cohesive, more purposeful, more dynamic, that in any time in recent memory. in terms of immediate next steps, president biden and his team will remain in close contact with our allies and partners to coordinate both on the potential for diplomacy and on any response that

is necessary should prudent decide to order military action. we are continuing to reduce the size of our embassy footprint in keith. and i now want to take a moment to echo what both president biden and secretary blinking have already said . we encourage all american citizens who remain in ukraine to depart immediately. we want to be crystal clear on this point. any american in ukraine should leave as soon as possible. and in any event, in the next 24 to 48 hours, we obviously cannot predict the future. we don't know exactly what is going to happen. but the risk is now high enough and the threat is now immediate enough that this is what prudence demands. if you stay, you are assuming risk, with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave. and there are no prospect of a u. s. military evacuation in the event of a russian invasion. if

a russian attack on ukraine precedes it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality. a subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force with virtually no notice communications to arrange a departure could be severed and commercial transit halted. no one would be able to count on air or rail or road departures once military action got underway. now again, i'm not standing here and saying what is going to happen or not happen. i'm only standing here to say that the risk is now high enough and the threat is immediate enough that prudence demands that it is the time to leave. now, while commercial options and commercial rail and air service exist while the roads are open, the president will not be putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk by sending them into a war zone to rescue people who could have left now. but chose not to so we are

asking people to make the responsible choice. with that, i'm happy to take your question. yeah. i know you don't want to get into the intelligence, but can you give us any sense what has changed over the past 24 or 48 hours to lead to your new level of concern? well, 1st i would say when i appeared on the sunday shows last weekend, i made the point that we were in the window that russian military action could begin any day now. and that remains true. it could begin any day now. and it could occur before the olympics have ended. i'm not going to get into intelligence information. but if you look at the disposition of forces in both bell roofs and in russia on the other side of the ukrainian border from the north, from the east. the russians are in a position to be able to mount a major military action in ukraine any day now. and for that reason, we believe that it is important for us to communicate to our allies and partners to the ukrainians and to the american citizens who are still there. i want to be

crystal clear, though, we are not saying that a decision has been taken. the final decision has been taken by president putin. what we are saying is that we have a sufficient level of concern based on what we are seeing on the ground. and what our intelligence analysts have picked up that we are sending this clear message and it remains a message that we have now been sending for some time. and it is, yes, it is an urgent message because we are in an urgent situation. i see you now believe that russia has all the forces. it needs to mount a full scale invasion of ukraine. what i'm saying is that russia has all the forces it needs to conduct a major military action. i'm not sure exactly what you mean by quote, full scale invasion, but russia could choose in very short order to commence a major military action against ukraine, yet later told the president that it will call up the nato response force of americans who have been put on that shortly, and if the president prepared to send additional unilateral forces to our partners

in the border region of ukraine, and is it your judgment and the judgment of us intelligence and the u. s. government, the proven is behaving as a rational actor in his judgements at this point. so on the question of the president, an authorizing more unilateral u. s. forces to europe has been clear all along that he is open to doing so as circumstances warrant. but i want to be very clear about something. these deployments of u. s. service members to poland, romania to germany. these are not soldiers who are being sent to go fight russia in ukraine. they are not going to war in ukraine. they're not going to war with russia . they're going to defend nato territory. consistent with our article 5 obligation, they are defensive deployments. they are non escalate tory. busy they are meant to reinforce reassure and deter aggression against nato territory. in terms of the u. s. forces that have been put on heightened readiness to be deployed in the event of

a nato decision to deploy them. or the president had the chance as part of the discussion today to hear from the secretary general. no decisions have been taken in that regard. but those forces stand by should a decision be taken by the north atlanta counsel to call up the nato. a response force ah, and a request comes in for american forces to be a part of that. finally, i can't get inside the head of president putin. i'm not going to speculate as to his motivations, his intentions, or at this point his decisions. all i will say is that we are ready either way. if president putin wants to engage in diplomacy, we are prepared to engage in diplomacy. we would like to find a diplomatic path forward, and we've sketched out the parameters and principal's for that, if president putin chooses to move forward, we will work in lockstep with our allies and partners to respond decisively. yeah. it sounds like you're saying that the assessment previously has not yet made a decision still stand. so i guess based on that, is it, your, it is more likely that in the, in could happen now than previously believe look,

it's hard to assign a percentage probabilities to any of this. we have to think about the range of scenarios that we confront and it's our job to be ready for all of them. so what i will say is that the way that he has built up his forces and put them in place, along with the other indicators that we have collected through intelligence, makes it clear to us that there is a very distinct possibility that russia will choose to act militarily and there is reason to believe that that could happen on a reasonably swift timeframe. now we can't pinpoint the day at this point and we can't pinpoint the hour. but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a russian military action would take place even before the end of the olympics. why didn't you deliver to americans who are in ukraine saying that they could get out now, or they still can do a picture of how many american right now are in ukraine. i would refer you to the

state department for the specifics on this because no, i don't want to do it off the top of my head. there's basically 2 categories. there are those who have registered with the embassy and those who have not registered with the embassy in the 1st category. obviously they have a number, although some of those folks have already left and didn't de register in the 2nd category. we don't know because of course, no american is obligated or required. so you can't fix a perfect number, but they're the ones who are best position to be able to explain what our current picture is of american citizens in ukraine. what i can do is stand before the world media and send a very clear message to, to all americans and, and to any american who's in ukraine right now. who needs help need financial help or needs logistical help to take advantage of a commercial option to get out. please call the u. s. embassy and key because we stand ready to provide that help. yeah. and what are you with some kind of happen on another region, give any sense of that?

and then what is the level of confidence in community high is what they're hearing about the plan specially about the potential for it to come before the end of when you say, i'm sorry, can you repeat 2nd question around the confidence that the world around whether this will happen for the children's community have sufficient confidence that i can stand before you today and say, what i have said, which is that there is a distinct possibility that vladimir putin would order a military action and invasion of ukraine in this window in this time period. and that could include the time period before february 20th before the beijing olympics have been completed. and so they believe that that everything i have just said is well grounded in both what they are seeing on the ground and what they are picking

up through all of their various sources. now, to your question about what type of action it would be, we'd been clear that it could take a range of different forms. but i want to be equally clear that one of those forms is a rapid assault on the city of key. that is a possible line of attack course of action that the russian forces could choose to take. they could also choose to move in other parts of ukraine as well. the last point that i would make, and i know this has been the subject of a fair amount of back and forth between the administration and the press. over the course of the past week, we are firmly convinced that the russians should they decide to move forward with invasion or looking hard at the creation of a pretext, a false flag operation, something that they generate and try to blame on the ukrainians as a trigger for military action, and we are calling that out publicly. because we do believe that if russia chooses to do that, they should be held to account the world should not believe that a false flag operation that they conducted is

a legitimate causes. spell i for going into yes, thank you. you mentioned that you do not want to say that who has made a decision, but does the, i think, believe that the president apartment president who has made a decision because p b. s news. our just reported a little bit ago that the united states does believe that food has made a decision and has also communicated that decision to the russian military. is that accurate report that you just reference, which i have not seen yet? it does not accurately capture what the us government's view is today. our view is that we do not believe he has made any kind of final decision on or we don't know that he has made any final decision and we have not communicated that to anybody. yes, i was just my colleague differently giving that report in the siding, 3 western and defense officials. you say the less does believe that google made up his mind has communicated active in military and that they've been showing

intelligence on you saying that's not true. we have communicated to our allies and partners all 30 allies in nato plus a range of other partners are our latest intelligence information. and it does not include a statement that vladimir putin has definitively given an order to proceed with the invasion. yes, from, from your name, i'm sorry. you haven't been shown any evidence or brief on intelligence that speak to that. i mean, we have not seen anything come to us that says a final decision has been taken the go order has been given what i will say. and the reason i'm up here are talking in the way i am to american citizens. the reason we're taking the barriers actions, we're taking the reason the president convened our closest allies in partners from across the nato alliance. and the european union is because we believe he very well may give the final go order. that is a very distinct possibility, but we are not standing here before you today and say the order has been given. the invasion is on. i it, it may well happen. it may well happen soon. but we're not saying,

i think the way that you've just characterized that i have seen this p b s report yet, but as you've characterized it, that does not capture the communication that we are making tornado eyes nor what we understand internally. you've laid out the fact that you're not a 100 percent for the glue made a decision yet. we have seen other world leaders meeting with has there been any more thought to president by engaging with him directly? i would expect the president biden will engage by telephone with president putin, but i don't have anything to announce for you on that right now. ah, because this is getting so close now. and the concern that your way towards the american people is there need to provide some underlying evidence of just what you're seeing that shows americans. this is a country that went through ross and concerns about what intelligence the showing that the administration fee and needs to provide underlying intelligence. well,

let me just start with a fundamental distinction between the situation in iraq and the situation today. and the situation in iraq, intelligence was used and deployed from this very podium to start a war. we are trying to stop a war to prevent a war 2 and a to avert a war. and all we can do is come here before you and give good faith and share everything that we know to the best of our ability while protecting sources and methods. so we continue to get the access to intelligence we need, but there is another big difference between what happened in 2003 and what's happening in 2022. and that is, in that case, it was information about intentions, about a hidden thing, stuff that couldn't be seen. today we're talking about more than 100000 russian troops, a mast along the ukrainian border with every capacity out there in the open for people to see. it's all over social media, it's all over your new sites. so you can believe your own eyes that the russians

have put in place, the capabilities to conduct a massive military operation against ukraine should they choose to do so. and then finally, i would just say if you look at the course of the past few months, as we have said, we predict there will be a build up of this kind. our information is telling us that the russians are likely to move in these ways. thus far in november and december and january that has borne out. so i think when you take all of that together, we put forward a credible case. but it's not my job to stand up here and convince any of you of anything it's, it's your job to ask the questions and to what you can do. all i can do is based on the best information i have available that i can share, that the president can share, the secretary of state can share, put that out there in close consultation with our allies and partners. that's what we've done. yeah. what would you expect the country would you're directly from the present on this one and the risk to world order of library putting rolling times or involving a foreign yeah. well, 1st of the country is heard from the president directly on the ukraine,

subject many times over the course of the past 3 months and they will continue to so ah, it's not like president biden has been silent on this question. he has been very vocal on it. he has spoken to every aspect of it i, he has read out his calls on it with world leaders as meetings, et cetera. but he will continue to speak directly to the american people as we watch the situation on the land for any kind of rest of the national office, you know, kind of speak specifically about this issue with prepared remarks. i don't have anything to announce in terms of a speech or prepared remarks at this point. yeah, i can think of that. i'm quite transparent, and i've been the strategy for ukraine the past. do you believe that strategy is actually helping to get his pension? why do feel that, that, that may be part of the leaving wife boxing part of my room even further in pairing your strategy? they'll probably be like, so we only one country has amassed more than

a $100000.00 troops on the border of another country, with all of the capability isn't capacities to conduct an invasion. that country is russia, that country is not the united states. so the fastest way to deescalate the situation for all involved would be for russia to choose to deescalate its mobilization of forces. the united states is responding to the active, sustained buildup of military pressure on ukraine. we are doing so in lockstep with allies and partners. and at the same time, we have been extremely forward leaning in our willingness to engage in diplomacy to address the mutual concerns of russia, europeans in the united states, when it comes to european security. i think it's still nice to answer questions for you. next week, vice president is going to gentlemen, you find any kids conference why you've been president night even going with the valet in person. if you're doing an off to apply to war federal question next week,

the president, president is going to rush to meet with me. 14. how do i, how easy is it timing up with the you guys expect anything from the president president doing? even if you simply looked at a catalogue of the engagements the president has had with his allies and partners, including the engagement he had today, that catalog alone would be a rebuttal to the proposition that he's not doing enough to rally the west and to offer russia a credible diplomatic path out of this that's included phone calls, it's included meetings, it's included video conferences. it's included countless sustained effort over the course of months. and we will continue with that. we're also very proud to have the vice president representing the american delegation of the munich secured the resident president v as meeting you for to next week. the brazilian president is obviously, you know, free to conduct his own diplomacy with other countries,

including with russia and i really don't have anything else to add on it today. i think they mentioned the possibility of a assault. he asked specifically, what is your sense if putin does decide to and baby brain, is he looking to evade and take over the entire country or apart like from him? and he doesn't work and just wanted to follow up with, well, how do you explain that disconnect between the rhetoric that we're hearing or the warnings we're hearing from you and other western countries and what seems to be playing down the rest of your credit? so i, i won't speak to the, the decisions that the ukrainian leadership is making in terms of how they're communicating on this issue. i will only say that we are coordinating extremely closely with them. president biden has spoken multiple times of presidents lansky. i speak a nearly every day with senior aides to president lansky secretary blank, and his deeply engaged with both his counterpart and the president. keith. so we will continue that level of coordination, sharing of information across every dimension of our government. but i can't

characterize wide is that they're choosing their course. i can only say that based on the information we have, we've chosen to be as transparent as possible with what we see as a significant risk of military action in ukraine. and as to your other question, i can't obviously predict what the exact shape or scope of the military action will be. as i said before, it could take a variety of forms. it could be more limited, it could be more expensive. but there are very real possibilities that it will involve the seizure of a significant amount of territory in ukraine and the seizure of major cities, including the capitals. i think the problems parker is at 225 that people want to leave. they believe now if people want to leave, they should leave now with the

diverge to run the president are now a, as you say, i'm just gonna give people moment to i guess it. okay. yeah. i mean with, with the you have to wait until law army crane especially with respect to weapons that can defend against an air strike. like you laid out the way, do you guys work with the private still use the idea of invasion with so as to the question of waiting too long on arming the ukrainians? i, over the course of the past year, the united states has provided more than half a 1000000000 dollars, 650000000 dollars in defensive assistance to ukraine. that's more than has ever

been given by any president in any year at any time. and that began more than a year ago under the presidency of joe biden. second, we have made good on the commitment to get those deliveries into the hands of the ukranian armed forces. those are defensive weapons, intended to defend ukraine against aggression. they are not meant for offensive purposes against any country. so we feel very proud of the contribution and commitment that we have had to helping the ukrainians be able to defend themselves . with respect to the question of the deployment of forces to defend nato territory . our view is that in addition to the 80000 strong us force presence in europe today that showing in poland and romanian particular but also through the deployment of air squadrons to the baltics as we had a few days ago. and other significant moves. we've made a carrier in the mediterranean, that for the 1st time in 30 years actually flew the nato flag as well as the american flag. i that we have been forward leaning and robust in defending and

reassuring our nato allies. and you don't have to take it from me. you can talk to the president of poland or the president of romania about the satisfaction they have with the fact that the united states has stepped up, alongside other nato allies, to deter and reassure and reinforce our presence along the eastern flank. i, since it is that my class with president looking at sanctions ahead of an invasion any differently than we had been added to his plan given that weighs everything from russia. the president believes that sanctions are intended to deter. and in order for them to work to deter, they have to be set up in a way where if potent moves then the costs are imposed. we believe that that is the right logic a both on its own merits. but equally importantly, we believe that the most important fundamental for any thing that unfolds in this

crisis, whether through the diplomacy or as a result of military action, is that the west to be strong, be united and be determined to operate with common purpose. and he believes that the sanctions approach he's taken in lockstep with our european partners. the canadians, and others puts us in a position for the west to be able to respond to this contingency in the most united and purposeful way possible. that will pay dividends for us in this circumstance, but it will also pay enormous strategic to bid dividends for the united states in the years and dec. oh understanding is that there was a site meeting last night in the situation room to talk about russia. and now you and secretary going around is a using sharper rhetoric by the timing of the evasion. i know you don't want to get into specific intelligence. but is there something that prompted the meeting last night? and it has changed the administration's assessment overnight? so i'm not going to speak to internal deliberations and i'm not going to get into the specifics of intelligence information. what i am going to say is that for some

time now, including out of my own very mouth, we have been talking about how we had entered the window where any day now a military action could be taken. that was the formula i was using several days ago now. as we gain more information, our view that military action could occur any day now and could occur before the end of the olympics is only growing in terms of its robustness. so that i can stand here and say that is a very, very distinct possibility. but i just want to say 2 things. first, we can't predict the exact determination that would make if and when he makes a determination. so all we can say is that the, the strong possibility of action, the distinct possibility of action in a relatively near term timeframe. including along the timeframe that i've laid out, the secretary blink and talked about that is backed up by our view of what's

happening on the ground. and it's backed up by information that we continue to acquire day by day, including over the course of the past few days when the, when they finally, why would, why, why would, why would russia have written provoking china with an action during the olympics? and secondly, more broadly to the china. russia looks like an emerging alliance here on certain issues. and then how much does that concern you? so i'd say 3 things about this. first. you know, russia, calculus, b to be china, whether they're going to make beijing upset or not. you know, that's kind of between russia and china and put them all. obviously you have to decide what he wants to do on that front. china also has its own decisions to make and to the extent that they are giving a wink and a not or a green light to a russian invasion of ukraine for no justified reason.