Joe Biden says that Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine

FOR SEVERAL weeks, even as they raised the alarm about Russia’s unprecedented military build-up on Ukraine’s border, Western leaders and officials emphasised that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, had not yet made a final decision. There was still time, they said, for Mr Putin to step back from the brink. On February 18th the tone changed. Joe Biden, America’s president, said that he was “convinced”, based on intelligence, that Mr Putin’s mind was now made up. Russia would attack Ukraine “in the coming days”—and it would target Kyiv, the capital.The crisis on Ukraine’s border has simmered since October, when American officials first noticed unusual military movements that prompted them to warn, the next month, of an invasion. Now it may have come to a head. For weeks, America and its European allies have warned that Russia would seek to manufacture a pretext for war, such as a “false flag” attack which would be blamed on Ukraine. In recent days, evidence that such pretexts are being constructed has been coming thick and fast.