U.S. President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin has made up his mind to invade Ukraine, VOA reported.

“I'm convinced he's made the decision. We have reason to believe that,” Biden said during remarks from the White House on Friday afternoon.

Biden called out the shelling of a kindergarten by Russian-backed fighters in the Donbas region, which Moscow said was carried out by Ukraine. He pointed out other disinformation he said Moscow was peddling to the public, including claims of a genocide in Donbas and a Ukrainian attack on Russia.

“All these are consistent with the playbook the Russians have used before to set up a false justification to act against Ukraine,” Biden said. For weeks his administration has warned of such pretext scenarios and “false flag operations.”

However, Biden is still offering Putin a de-escalation off-ramp, saying that diplomacy is “always a possibility.” He said, based on the “significant intelligence capability” of the U.S., he has reason to believe Putin will still consider the diplomatic option.