Smoke billows from a power and heating plant as it is was shelled in Shchastya, in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022. | Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo
A senior White House official on Tuesday repeatedly accused Russia of mounting an “invasion” of Ukraine by sending troops into the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
The remarks by deputy national security adviser Jon Finer represent a rhetorical shift by the Biden administration, which on Monday resisted calling Russia’s latest moves into Ukraine an invasion after warning for months about Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s border and increasing aggression in the region.
“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” Finer told CNN in an interview, referring to Russian troops moving into the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic — both of which are controlled by Russia-backed forces.
“I think ‘latest’ is important here,” Finer said. “An invasion is an invasion, and that is what is underway, but Russia has been invading Ukraine since 2014,” when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
