Russia's recent claim that it was beginning to pull back some troops from Ukraine's border is "false," a senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing Wednesday.
"In fact," the official said, "we have now confirmed that in the last several days, Russia has increased its troop presence along the Ukrainian border by as many as 7,000 troops, with some arriving as recently as today."
That echoes a report earlier in the day from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who warned that the United States should remain skeptical of Russia's claims.
"Unfortunately there's a difference between what Russia says and what it does, and what we're seeing is no meaningful pullback," Blinken said in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America.
Speaking on Tuesday, President Biden said that Russia had "more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine and Belarus and along Ukraine's border."
"An invasion," Biden said, "remains distinctly possible."
The official on Wednesday added that despite Russia saying it's interested in diplomacy, "Every indication we have now is they mean only to publicly offer to talk and make claims about de-escalation while privately mobilizing for war."
The official reiterated that the Biden administration would welcome diplomacy and steps to de-escalate the conflict, but offered the stark warning in a briefing ahead of a trip to Germany by Vice President Harris, who is leading the U.S. delegation to the Munich Security Conference. There, she plans...
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