United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attack Ukraine but will later “regret having done it”.

The president made the statement at the White House press briefing while responding to a series of questions from mediapersons on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“Do I think he’ll [Putin] test the West, test the United States and NATO as significantly as he can?” Biden asked at a press briefing. “Yes, I think he will. But I think he’ll pay a serious and dear price for it that he doesn’t think now will cost him what it’s going to cost him.”

The president, however, later clarified that Russia’s move might not amount to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reported The New York Times.

Ukraine and Russia have been engaged in a conflict since 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea and backed separatist forces in Kyiv’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The tensions between the countries have intensified after Russia, last year, gathered 1 lakh troops near the Ukrainian border.

Last week, a series of talks held in Europe had failed to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine, reported AP.

At the press conference on Wednesday, Biden said that Russia will be held accountable for its actions depending on what they are.

“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion [in Ukraine] and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,” he said.

When asked if “minor incursion” from Moscow would not lead to sanctions, the president sought to clarify that he was referring to a non-military action from Russia such as a cyberattack. He said that such actions would be met with a similar response, adding that if Russian forces cross the Ukrainian border and kill Ukrainian fighters, it “changes everything”.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki, in a statement issued later on Wednesday, clarified Biden’s comments. She said that the president knows that Russia has an “extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics”.

She added: “And he [Biden] affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.”

‘Will not apologise for pulling out of Afghanistan’

At the press briefing, Biden also said that he will not apologise for pulling the American troops out of Afghanistan.

Last year, after the United States announced the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan after two decades, the Taliban took control of the capital in August.

The insurgent group’s return to power triggered turmoil in Afghanistan, with thousands of people leaving the country to escape their rule. On August 28, while people had gathered at Kabul airport, the Islamic State-Khorasan had carried out a bombing, killing Afghans and 13 US Army personnel.

“I have a great concern for the women and men who were blown up on the line at the airport by a terrorist attack against them,” Biden said. “But the military will acknowledge – and I think you will [reporters], who know a lot about foreign policy – that had we stayed and I had not pull those troops out, we would be asked to put somewhere between 20- and 50,000 more troops back in.”

The president said he felt bad about the Taliban taking over the country and its “incompetence”.

Biden also announced that Vice President Kamala Harris will be her running mate in the 2024 elections.