White House corrects Joe Biden gaffe after he says West may not act on ‘minor Russian incursion’ into Ukraine

Watch: Biden Says Putin Will 'Pay a Serious Price' if Russia Invades Ukraine

The White House scrambled to correct one of President Joe Biden’s gaffes on Wednesday after he suggested Russia would not face sanctions over a “minor incursion” into Ukraine.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki said any Russian military campaign would be met with a “swift, severe and united response” amid mounting fears of an invasion.

“President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,” Ms Psaki said in a statement.

“President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics.

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

It came less than an hour after President Biden claimed that the strength of the Western response would depend on the severity of Russia’s military action.

“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do,” he said. “But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.”

Pressed on whether a “minor incursion” would see the West take less significant action, he replied: “I think we will if there’s something that is — where there’s Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters, et cetera. I think that changes everything.

“But it depends on what he does.”

Watch: PM: Russian incursion into Ukraine would be ‘disaster’

US officials claim as many as 100,000 troops have been amassed near the Ukraine border. Moscow denies the allegations.

Russia last month issued a contentious set of demands it claims the West must meet to diffuse tensions on the Ukraine border. They include an effective Russian veto on NATO membership for Ukraine, which has already been ruled out by Europe and the US.

German government sources told the Handelsblatt newspaper that the US and its allies were considering whether to shelve plans to exclude Russia from the Swift international payments system over fears it could destabilise the global economy.

However, the White House later insisted “no option is off the table”.

Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine began after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. It has killed over 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine’s industrial heartland called Donbas.