Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated Australia won’t send troops to Ukraine in the event of an invasion by Russia but will provide practical assistance to allies.

U.S. President Joe Biden believes Russia’s Vladimir Putin has made a decision to invade Ukraine and will do so within weeks or days.

Morrison said an invasion is “regrettably inevitable,” with intelligence showing Russian troops have not been withdrawn from the border.

“The pretence has been sought for an invasion,” Morrison told reporters in Darwin on Saturday.

“There is no pretence for an invasion into Ukraine. There is no justification for it. There is no provocation of it.”

Morrison said Australia would stand by its like-minded allies and would provide “support that is necessary.”

“We work with our allies and partners in many other ways, and we will seek to do that with the practical things that we can do to assist those efforts.

“We have had such discussions with the UK prime minister and others about how we proceed along that basis,” he said.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan earlier this week said Australia would enact strong economic sanctions against Russia should it invade.

Last weekend, the federal government temporarily suspended its operations at the Australian Embassy in Ukraine’s capital Kiev and evacuated diplomatic staff.