White House says won't call Russia invasion of Ukraine 'imminent'

It drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he wanted to avoid panic

The chief White House spokeswoman said Wednesday that she will no longer refer to a Russian invasion of Ukraine as "imminent," while insisting that it could still happen "any time."

Press Secretary Jen Psaki sought to unpick a tangle caused by her word choice in a briefing last week when she said the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops massed on the borders could be "imminent."

That drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he wanted to avoid panic.

Read | NATO unwilling to address Russia's concerns: Putin

At her daily briefing on Wednesday, Psaki said "we stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we weren't intending to send, which was that we knew President (Vladimir) Putin had made a decision."

Psaki said that she usually referred to Putin having put troops in a position where they "could invade at any time."

That remains "true," she said, adding that Washington doesn't "know that he's made a decision."

At the State Department, spokesman Ned Price said the administration has been "describing in accurate terms what it is we are seeing and the steps that we have been taking in response to that on a defensive and deterrent basis."

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