Biden to address nation on Russia Ukraine tensions today

US president will speak on ‘continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy and Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine’

US President Joe Biden will deliver an update on efforts to deter a further invasion of Ukraine at 4pm eastern time on Friday, the White House has said.

According to an updated version of his daily schedule released by the White House press office, the president is set to speak on “continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy and Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine”.

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Mr Biden is expected to address US and Nato actions and the continued push to dissuade Russian president Vladimir Putin from ordering an invasion of Ukraine after the heads of two Russia-aligned, self-proclaimed “people’s republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk announced evacuations of Russian-speaking civilians in the breakaway regions to Russia.

There are currently no signs Kiev is planning or executing any attack on the separatist regions, and the Ukrainian foreign ministry has rejected any claims to the contrary.

But US officials believe Russia plans to use purported exchanges of fire that Moscow claims have taken place between Ukrainian forces and the Russia-backed separatists in recent days to justify an invasion.

On Thursday, Mr Biden said reports of shelling in Donetsk were part of a Russian “false flag” operation, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the UN Security Council of Russian plans to “manufacture a pretext for its attack”.

Mr Blinken also said Russia might describe the false flag attack — or the evacuations being announced by the Moscow-backed separatists — as “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” as a prelude to Russia invading “to defend Russian citizens or ethnic Russians in Ukraine”.