Biden talks with Ukrainian President over Russian tensions Border Conflict News

US President Joe Biden has spoken with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Russia’s efforts to ease tensions on the Ukrainian border.

Biden and Zelenskyyk’s call on Thursday was backed by the US president and arrived just days later a two-hour discussion With Vladimir Putin urging the Russian leader to take the path of diplomacy, either to remove the situation or to face severe economic sanctions.

“The President of the United States informed me of the content of the negotiations with Putin,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening after saying he had a 90-minute conversation with Biden.

“We also discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbas and touched on the direction of Ukraine’s internal reforms,” ​​the Ukrainian president added, referring to the eastern region of Ukraine.

The 1.5-hour interview is over @POTUS. The President of the United States informed me of the content of the negotiations with Putin. We also discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbas and discussed the internal reforms in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/boKzAdiyeU

– Vladimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) December 9, 2021

Ukraine has said that 94,000 Russian troops have been stationed at the border on this second build-up so far this year, and has issued a series of warnings from top officials of the Biden administration not to take Moscow.significant aggressive movements“Against Kiev.

U.S. intelligence agencies have warned that Putin may be in a position to launch a large-scale offensive involving 175,000 troops in early January.

Russia has denied plans to invade Ukraine, but Putin has warned that the deployment of US military equipment to Ukraine, as well as the country’s accession to NATO, are “red lines” that should not be crossed.

In 2014, Moscow seized Crimea from Kiev, and Russian-backed separatists seized part of eastern Ukraine, sparking the ongoing conflict that continues to this day.

Putin on Tuesday submitted to Biden a request for legally binding security guarantees that would rule out NATO enlargement, the Kremlin said after a summons between the two leaders.

The United States has repeatedly said that NATO members control who joins the alliance, however. Leaders of the Biden administration have also said that although they do not know whether Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, “he is putting the capacity to do so in the short term.”

Charles Stratford of Al Jazeera, before the Biden-Zelenskyy call from Kherson in southern Ukraine, said the Ukrainian president expected to hear more support from the US and NATO allies on Thursday. “There is tremendous pressure in Ukraine, ”Stratford said.

“There is no doubt that analysts are saying that President Biden has no choice but to try to make concessions to the Ukrainians because of pressure from President Putin on Ukraine and, in fact, NATO,” he said.

“The general message is that Biden must put pressure on Zelenskyy without accepting what the US, NATO and Ukraine continue to describe as attacks on Russia.”

The White House did not immediately read Zelenskyy’s call on Thursday.

“The intention of the President of this meeting was to inform President Zelenskyy of his call to President Putin and to emphasize our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

After speaking with the President of Ukraine, Biden also consulted with the leaders of nine NATO members in Eastern Europe, known as the Nine in Bucharest.

The White House said earlier this week that Biden aimed to “inform the U.S. allies of NATO’s call for President Putin, listen to their views on the current security situation, and emphasize the U.S.’s commitment to transatlantic security.”

At the same time, the United States and Europe’s main allies are discussing with Russia Putin’s concerns about NATO’s future expansion and “whether we can make adjustments” to reduce tensions, Biden told the White House on Wednesday. .

In recent days, the U.S. has stepped up its deployment of military aid to Ukraine by deploying small arms, ammunition and the field of anti-tank missile missiles, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said on Wednesday.

However, Biden said on the day that the US and NATO allies were not ready to intervene militarily in Ukraine in the event of a major Russian invasion.

“I made it very clear that if it really invades Ukraine, it will have serious consequences,” the US president told reporters. “But there is no idea that the United States will use unilateral force against Russia to invade Ukraine … right now.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned this week that the sanctions being prepared by the U.S. and its allies are “at the end of the spectrum.”

“Putin himself, as well as his inner circle, would lose access to Western bank accounts. Russia would be effectively cut off and isolated from the international economic system, “Menendez said.