Biden warns Putin of ‘severe costs’ of Ukraine invasion

By JIM HEINTZ and AAMER MADHANI
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that invading Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering” and that the West was committed to diplomacy to end the crisis but “equally prepared for other scenarios.” Biden also told Putin the United States and its allies would respond “decisively and impose swift and severe costs” if the Kremlin attacked its neighbor. There was no suggestion that the hourlong call diminished the threat of an imminent war in Europe. The two presidents spoke a day after Biden’s national security adviser warned that U.S. intelligence shows that a Russian invasion could begin within days and before the Winter Olympics in Beijing end on Feb. 20.