If Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and its allies will respond decisively, the US President Joe Biden told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during their phone conversation on Sunday, the White House informed.
According to White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, who gave in a statement following the call, Biden assured Zelenskiy that the US and its partners will respond decisively to any further invasion by Moscow in Ukraine.
They also discussed preparations for the upcoming diplomatic meetings to address the crisis, as well as the joint actions on keeping peace in Europe and preventing further escalation of the situation, the future reforms and, deoligarchization.
Zelenskiy tweeted later that his first international talk of the year with POTUS has proven the special nature of the US – Ukraine relations and expressed gratitude for the unwavering support of Ukraine that Washington demonstrates.
Biden – Zelenskiy phone call came a few days after the US President exchanged warnings over Ukraine with its Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday although they also conveyed optimism during their phone conversation that the spiraling tensions could be eased by the diplomatic talks in January.
Biden’s call with Putin, during which he emphasized to his counterpart the importance of the Russians taking steps toward easing the crisis before those meetings, was the second conversation they had in a month amid tensions on Ukraine’s border with Russia where Moscow has massed over 100,000 troops.
According to announcements in late December, the US and Russian representatives will hold talks on January 9-10 in Geneva, followed by talks among Russia and NATO Council and a meeting of the OSCE.
Both meetings were scheduled following Moscow’s demand for guarantees that any future expansion of NATO will exclude Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and that NATO will remove offensive weaponry from countries in the region.
According to Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, the Russian president has warned that Washington’s pursuit of sanctions could completely rupture the relations between the two countries and severely damage Russia-West relations.
Be the first to comment