He described the situation ahead of the Feb.24 invasion and his communications with Zelensky, according to The Associated Press:

"Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating," Biden said, according to the outlet. He added the US had data that showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was going to invade.

"There was no doubt," Biden continued. "And Zelenskyy didn't want to hear it."

In his latest remarks, Biden admitted that the possibility of Putin launching a full-scale invasion may have seemed far-fetched at the time, acknowledging, "I understand why they didn't want to hear it."

Top Ukrainian officials in the days and weeks prior to the invasion had pushed back against Washington, blaming the repeat warnings from US intelligence agencies for sowing "panic".