President Biden signaled Friday evening that he does plan to move troops to Eastern Europe sometime ‘in the near term,’ even as Ukrainian officials are publicly downplaying U.S. assessments of imminent Russian invasion. ‘I’ll be moving troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term. Not too many,’ Biden said as he de-planed Air Force One after a trip to Pittsburgh. Earlier this week, the Pentagon told 8,500 troops here in the U.S. to be on high alert for a potential deployment to Eastern Europe, as Russia has already amassed over 100,000 troops at the Ukraine border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the global media in Kiev Friday and pushed back on world leaders who have publicly stressed the prospect of Russian invasion – following a call with President Biden where the president raised the ‘distinct possibility’ Russian troops would soon overrun his country. ‘There are signals even from respected leaders of states, they just say that tomorrow there will be war. This is panic – how much does it cost for our state?’ said Zelensky. He indirectly criticized the decision by the U.S. to pull family members of diplomats out of the country as yet another measure that could feed ‘panic’ that could be counterproductive. ‘We don’t have a Titanic here,’ he said. ‘I don’t consider the situation now more tense than before. There is a feeling abroad that there is war here. That’s not the case,’ said Zelensky. ‘I am not saying an escalation is not possible…(but) we don’t need this panic,’ he said. ‘If war were to break out on the scale and scope that is possible, the civilian population would suffer immensely,’ Milley said at the Pentagon. Austin said the 100,000-plus Troops Russia has positioned ‘far and away exceeds what we typically see them do for exercises. ‘It’s very concerning,’ he said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley warned of the stakes and spoke to U.S. military preparations to assist NATO allies. Asked whether Putin has enough troops for a full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Austin replied: ‘I mean, you’ve heard the chairman say earlier that he’s got north of 100,000 troops in the border region. That gives him a number of options. What he’s done as he’s continued to move troops and resources into the region is increased his options. And so, we won’t predict where his decisions will take him, but we remain concerned about the range of options that that he could pursue and will stay focused on this problem set.’ Milley said the pair do not believe Putin has made a decision. But he added: ‘Sure, with 10000 troops. You’ve got combined arms formations, ground maneuver, artillery, rockets, you got air and all the other piece parts that go with it. There’s a potential that they could launch on very, very little warning. That’s possible. And there’s a wide scale of options that are available to Russian leadership. The best option they should pick, in my view, is a diplomatic solution to resolve whatever differences they have,’ he said. ‘This is larger in scale and scope, and the massing of forces than anything we’ve seen in recent memory,’ said Milley. Given the forces Putin has at his disposal, ‘if that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and it would result in a significant amount of casualties,’ he said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the 100,000-plus Troops Russia has positioned ‘far and away exceeds what we typically see them do for exercises. ‘It’s very concerning,’ he said. NN: Rutan senses weakness. I see this coming to a head soon. And i believe it will drive oil prices higher. Tensions will wind down very quickly. Giving us a great shorting opportunity.