US President Joe Biden has assured his Ukrainian colleague Volodimir Zelensky that he will support him in the conflict with Russia. Biden made it clear that the US and its allies “will respond resolutely if Russia continues to invade Ukraine,” said the White House in Washington after a phone call between the two presidents.
Biden and Zelensky also support diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions with Russia. Talks between the United States and Russia in Geneva are planned for one week, on January 9th and 10th. Thereafter, a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is scheduled – the first in two and a half years. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will also hold talks afterwards.
Zelensky told the short message service Twitter that he had discussed the “joint actions of Ukraine, the United States and partners for maintaining peace in Europe” with Biden, as well as steps towards de-escalation. Zelensky had only said in his New Year’s address that he not only wanted to bring the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, back to Ukraine. The parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists should also come back, he said.
The US has been accusing Russia of deploying troops in areas on the border with Ukraine for weeks. It is feared that the Russian military could invade the former Soviet republic. Russia denies such plans for an invasion and, in turn, accuses Ukraine of having deployed additional soldiers in the region.
According to the White House, Biden emphasized that the US is committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. In the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine, the US government has threatened severe economic sanctions that would be coordinated with its allies in Europe. In addition, in such a case, NATO’s presence in its eastern member states should be expanded. The US would also provide Ukraine with additional aid, including for the armed forces.
In his conversation with Zelensky, Biden, who spoke to Putin on the phone on Thursday, also emphasized that the Minsk peace plan applies to the solution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He also supported the so-called Normandy format, as the White House announced. Russia had repeatedly criticized Ukraine for repeatedly violating the agreements reached through international mediation. In the Normandy format of four, France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are trying to resolve the conflict that has been going on for almost eight years. According to UN estimates, more than 13,000 people have been killed in Donbass since 2014 in fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russian-backed separatists.