Ukraine conflict: Joe Biden discusses course against Vladimir Putin with allies

Enlarge image

Opponents Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden (in Geneva in June)

Photo: Patrick Semansky / AP

He spoke to Chancellor Angela Merkel, France’s Head of State Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi: Joe Biden and his European allies agreed on a conversation with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin a few hours before the video summit.

The White House then announced that all heads of government had expressed their solidarity with Ukraine. The Kiev government has repeatedly warned of the risk of attack. Russia has concentrated more than 94,000 soldiers on the common border and may be preparing for a large-scale military offensive in late January.

In the conversation, Putin apparently wants to threaten Biden with serious economic consequences in the event of an attack on Ukraine. According to a senior government official in Washington, should Russia actually attack Ukraine, the US will not intervene directly militarily. Instead, the White House is considering more "support for the Ukrainian army", "harsh economic sanctions" and a "substantial increase in support and capacities for our NATO allies". This means that more US soldiers could be stationed in Eastern Europe.

According to the Kremlin, the afternoon conversation will also deal with possible mutual security guarantees between Russia and NATO.

Putin recently called on the western military alliance to end its eastward expansion and demanded written guarantees for this.

Before Biden talks to Putin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is supposed to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj.

Zelenskyi paid a visit to the soldiers on the front line in the east of his country before the video summit between Biden and Putin.

He visited positions in the Donetsk region and thanked the soldiers "for protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," as the presidential office in Kiev announced.

"With people like you we will definitely win," said Zelenskyi accordingly.

Pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army have been fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014 after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula.

In the conflict, Russia supports the separatists who have proclaimed so-called People's Republics in Luhansk and Donetsk.

More than 13,000 people have died in the conflict so far.

Trittin warns that the conflict will escalate

The Greens foreign politician Jürgen Trittin warned of a military escalation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

"Neither Russia nor Ukraine, and certainly not Europe, have anything to gain from this," he told the German press agency.

The situation is already "highly explosive" today.

The conversation between Biden and Putin is "an important step in stopping the escalation spiral between Russia on the one hand and Ukraine, the EU and NATO on the other," said Trittin.

"Whether we are witnessing preparations for an invasion of Ukraine or a maneuver to coerce Ukraine - Russia's actions violate the principles of the Treaty on Security and Cooperation in Europe."

as / dpa / Reuters / AFP