Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that he is “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin will try to overthrow the Ukrainian government, remarks that come less than 24 hours after Russia invaded Ukraine.

During an interview on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” anchor David Muir asked Blinken if he was convinced that Putin was going to overthrow the Ukrainian government.

“I’m convinced he’s going to try to do that,” Blinken answered.

Muir also asked Blinken if he believed it might be a possibility that American troops could be involved if Russian troops moved into North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, beyond Ukraine.

“Is it a possibility that Putin goes beyond Ukraine? Sure, it’s a possibility, but there’s something very powerful standing in the way of that. That’s something we call Article 5 of NATO. That means an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members of NATO. The President’s been very clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory. I think that’s the most powerful deterrent against President Putin going beyond Ukraine”, - Blinken answered.