US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky are due to speak by phone on Sunday amid growing fears that a Russian military buildup near the border with its pro-Western neighbor heralds an irruption.
The show of US support for Ukraine comes days after Biden advised Russian President Vladimir Putin of severe consequences if Moscow invades the former Soviet country.
Using some of his most direct languages yet, Biden said Friday, “ I am not going to negotiate than in public, but we made it clear he can not — I will emphasize, can not — foray Ukraine.”
The US leader added, in reflections to journalists during a vacation stay in Delaware, that he’d “ made it clear to President Putin that we will have severe warrants, we will increase our presence in Europe, with Nato abettors” if Russia invades Ukraine.
The White House said that in Sunday’s call with Zelensky, Biden will “ reaffirm US support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, bandy Russia’s military figure-up on Ukraine’s borders, and review medications for forthcoming politic engagements to help lessen the situation in the region”.
Zelensky twittered “ Look forward to talking again with@POTUS this Sunday to coordinate our way for the sake of peace in Ukraine and security in Europe.”
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1476992968401772554
‘ Engage meaningfully’
Washington and its European abettors charge Russia of hanging Ukraine with a new irruption. Some Russian colors are concentrated near the border of the country, where Putin formerly seized the Crimea region in 2014 and is indicted of picking a pro-Russian separatist war that erupted that same time in the east.
Moscow describes the troop presence as protection against the expansion of Nato, although Ukraine has not been offered a class in the military alliance.
The high-ranking US and Russian officers are due to sit down on January 9 and 10 in Geneva to bandy the extremity.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Friday with Nato principal Jens Stoltenberg; latterly, Blinken prompted Russia to “ engage meaningfully” in the forthcoming addresses on the tense standoff between Moscow and Kiev.
Stoltenberg said that Nato was “ united” and “ set for dialogue”.
In Thursday’s call, Biden advised Putin against overrunning Ukraine, while the Kremlin leader said anti-Moscow warrants would be a “ colossal mistake”. After a 50- nanosecond phone call — their alternate in just over three weeks — both chairpersons indicated support for further tactfulness.
Putin was “ pleased” overall with the addresses, foreign policy counsel Yury Ushakov told journalists.
An elderly US functionary, who spoke on condition of obscurity, said the tone “ was serious and substantial”. But there was no disguising the depth of disagreement — or the dangerously high stakes on the circumferences of eastern Europe.
