Biden talks with Ukrainian President amid Russia’s tensions | Border Dispute Issues

US President Joe Biden has spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he seeks to resolve disputes over the number of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.

Biden and Zelenskyy’s singing on Thursday comes just days after the US President’s inauguration two-hour discussion and Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian leader to take a concerted effort to end the crisis or face severe economic sanctions.

“The president of the United States has informed me of his discussions with Putin,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon after what he described as a 90-minute discussion with Biden.

“We also discussed ways to resolve conflicts in the Donbas and to influence internal change in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president added, referring to eastern Ukraine.

He concluded a 1.5-hour conversation with @POTU. The president of the United States told me about his discussions with Putin. We also discussed ways to resolve conflicts in the Donbas and to influence internal change in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/boKzAdiyeU

– Vladimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) December 9, 2021

Ukraine says 94,000 Russian troops have been assembled at the border for a second such strike this year, prompting a series of warnings from Biden officials to prevent Moscow from taking “very aggressive movements”Against Kyiv.

U.S. law enforcement agencies have warned that Putin could launch an all-out attack against 175,000 troops in early January.

Russia has denied any attempts to seize Ukraine, but Putin has warned that any growth of US weapons in Ukraine, as well as the country’s entry into NATO, are “red lines” that should not cross.

In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea in Kyiv, and Russian-backed separatists occupied eastern Ukraine, sparking a conflict that continues to this day.

Putin on Tuesday called on Biden to “seek legal recognition to confirm the spread of NATO,” the Kremlin said after a summit between the two leaders.

The US has repeatedly said that NATO members control those who join the alliance, however. Officials in Biden also said that although they did not know whether Putin had decided to invade Ukraine, “they are laying the groundwork for this soon”.

Charles Stratford of Al Jazeera, from Kherson in southern Ukraine before calling Biden-Zelenskyy, said the Ukrainian president was expecting to hear more support from the US and NATO allies on Thursday. ““There are a lot of problems in Ukraine,” Stratford said.

“Indeed, experts say they are looking at President Biden as having nothing to do but try to find alternatives from the Ukrainian people because of the crisis in Ukraine and, with NATO and President Putin,” he continued.

“The common message is that Biden should force Zelenskyy not to appear to accept what the US, NATO and Ukraine continue to claim to be Russian atrocities.”

The White House did not immediately offer a count of Zelenskyy’s phone call Thursday.

“The president’s intention in this song was to give President Zelenskyy a change in his call to President Putin and to prove our support for the Ukrainian administration and our loyalty,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters earlier.

After speaking with the President of Ukraine, Biden also held talks with leaders of nine NATO Eastern European members, known as Bucharest Nine.

The White House said earlier this week that Biden wanted to brief NATO allies “in his call to President Putin, to hear his views on existing security, and to emphasize the United States’ commitment to transatlantic security”.

At the same time, the US and its top European allies are discussing with Russia the concerns of Putin over any NATO growth and “if we can improve the settlement” to reduce tensions, Biden told the White House Wednesday. .

In recent days, the U.S. has increased the deployment of military aid to Ukraine with small arms, light weapons and the deployment of anti-Javelin tanks, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said Wednesday.

However, Biden said on the same day that the US and its NATO allies were not prepared to intervene in Ukraine in the aftermath of the Russian war.

“I made it very clear that if they take over Ukraine, it will be difficult,” the US president told reporters. “But the idea that the United States will use force to join Russia in attacking Ukraine is not …

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week warned that sanctions imposed by the US and its allies are “very far from over”.

“Putin himself, as well as the people around him, are failing to get bank accounts in the West. Russia would be cut off and discriminated against by the global economic system,” Menendez said.