Biden holds first press confrence of 2022.

President Biden said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would ultimately “prevail” if Moscow invades Ukraine, but would only face a muted US response for a “minor incursion” — while also blaming Republicans for blocking his legislative agenda and insisting his struggling administration had “probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen.”

In only his second solo White House news conference, Biden admitted that Russia “will be able to prevail over time” if it launched an invasion and added that the precise response of America and its allies “depends on what it does.”

“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and what not do, etc.,” the president said near the start of what turned into a nearly two-hour appearance in the East Room. “But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the force they’ve massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.”