President Joe Biden’s comment that Russia may opt for a smaller-scale incursion into Ukraine, combined with the European Union’s reluctance to discuss specific penalties for Moscow, risks deepening concern about how firmly the West would respond to a lesser provocation.
Biden raised the prospect in a news conference on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin might go for a “minor incursion” or cyber attack on Ukraine as opposed to a full-blown war, noting that could complicate how the U.S. and its allies react, “and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do.”
“My guess is he will move in, he has to do something,” Biden said of Putin.
