Biden to President of Ukraine: "We will respond strongly if Russia invades"

News agencies

03/01/2022

Monday, 03 January 2022, 09:55 Updated: 09:57

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US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky at White House Meeting, September 1, 2021 (Photo: Reuters)

US President Joe Biden has promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky that Washington and its allies will "react strongly" if Russia invades its territory, White House spokeswoman Jen Saki said Monday night. The two spoke on the phone amid fears in the West of a possible attack by Russia against its pro-Western neighbor following a large concentration of forces within its borders.

The U.S. demonstration in support of Ukraine came days after Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of the dire consequences of an invasion of the former Soviet republic. In the phone call with Zalansky, Biden also stressed Washington's commitment to the 'nothing about you without you' principle, which apparently addressed the need to include Kiev in any negotiations that take place over its future.

Zalansky tweeted after the conversation that he appreciated the "uncompromising support" of the United States and that the conversation "proved the special nature" of relations between the two countries.

Next week, senior officials from the United States and Russia will meet in Geneva to discuss the crisis in Eastern Europe. On Thursday, Biden spoke with Putin about the crisis with Ukraine, in their second phone call in three weeks.

"I'm not going to negotiate here in public, but we made it clear to him that he can not - I stress, can not - invade Ukraine," Biden said on Friday about his conversation with Putin. Speaking to reporters during his vacation at his home in Delaware, the president added that he had "made it clear to President Putin that we would impose severe sanctions, we would increase our presence in Europe, with our NATO allies" if he attacked Ukraine.

Saki added that Biden stressed "the United States' commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and supports a separatist uprising in the east of the country. A White House spokeswoman added that the president of the United States "expressed his support for confidence-building measures to reduce tensions in the Donbass and for active diplomacy to advance the implementation of the Minsk Accords."

Under the same agreements, signed in 2015 mediated by France and Germany, Ukraine agreed to carry out political reforms while Russia agreed to end its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. However, fighting has since continued at low intensity, with Kiev and the West fearing that Moscow plans to expand its spheres of influence in eastern Ukraine with some 100,000 troops deployed close to its borders.

Russia claims its right to deploy its forces in its territory as it sees fit due to the spread of NATO to the east. However, despite Ukraine's desire to join the alliance, it has not received an official offer to join it. that the imposition of new sanctions on Russia would be "a colossal error."

Washington and Moscow have expressed optimism after the last conversation between the leaders, but the gaps between the sides are very large. Russia requires a commitment from NATO that it does not attach to Ukraine and Georgia in the future and withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe Which were formerly part of the Eastern Bloc.

In the North Atlantic Alliance this condition is rejected outright.

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