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Ukrainian soldiers at the front near Luhansk
Photo: Alexei Alexandrov / dpa
A week after US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin's video summit on the Ukraine conflict, Washington is sending the US State Department’s European Commissioner for Europe, Karen Donfried, to Kiev and Moscow.
The top diplomat will speak there "with high-ranking government officials about the military armament of Russia," said the ministry in Washington on Saturday.
She will also reaffirm the commitment of the USA "to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine".
At the same time, she will press for the implementation of the Minsk Agreement of 2015 in order to achieve “diplomatic progress” to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Pro-Russian militias and the Ukrainian army have been fighting there since 2014 after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
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 already been killed in the fighting.
Biden had threatened Putin with "unprecedented sanctions."
Biden had exchanged views on the conflict in eastern Ukraine with Putin on Tuesday via video link.
Russia has gathered tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with its neighboring country, which is fueling fears in the West that the Russian army could invade Ukraine.
Moscow rejects this and accuses Ukraine of provocations.
In the event of an invasion, Biden threatened Russia with unprecedented sanctions, excluding an unauthorized US military operation in defense of Ukraine.
The high-ranking diplomat's trip to Ukraine and Russia is expected to last from Monday to Wednesday.
According to the announcement, Donfried will then travel to Brussels to discuss efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis with NATO and EU partners.
col / dpa / AFP
