Joe Biden has said he is ‘convinced’ that Vladimir Putin has ‘made the decision’ to invade Ukraine – an invasion that might come in the next days, based on US intelligence. The US president added it was not too late to reverse that decision: ‘Russia can still choose diplomacy. It is not too late to de-escalate and return the negotiation table.’ 

Russia has amassed up to 190,000 troops on the borders with Ukraine, the US warned on Friday, claiming it was “the biggest mobilisation of troops since the second world war” and an increase of more than 90,000 in less than a month.

The estimate including Russian-backed troops inside Ukraine only added to a growing sense of foreboding among western diplomats, as they gathered for a major security conference in Munich, that their efforts to avert war in Europe were doomed and that Vladimir Putin had irrevocably chosen the path of conflict.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to attend Munich Security Conference on Saturday
 

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will travel to Germany for the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, his office confirmed to Reuters. He will return the same day.

Joe Biden said last night that it may be wise for Zelenskiy to instead remain in Ukraine, given the mounting fears Russia is preparing to mount an offensive. There was earlier some uncertainty over whether Zelenskiy would chose to travel.

Zelenskiy will meet with various Western leaders in Munich, including US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Putin to oversee nuclear

Russia's President Vladimir Putin was set to oversee exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces on Saturday as Western leaders gathered in Munich, fearful that he could order troops massed on Ukraine's border to invade at any time.

Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declare full military mobilisation

Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declared a full military mobilisation on Saturday, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to southern Russia because of what they said was the threat of conflict.