Biden holds ‘warm’ call with Ukraine’s Zelensky, officials say while denying concessions to Putin
Biden administration is ‘clearly not’ asking Ukraine to cede territory to Putin after ‘warm’ phone call with Zelensky, administration officials say
Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on ThursdayAdministration officials said the call was ‘warm’ later that evening Reports suggested Biden may press Zelensky to cede autonomy to a portion of Ukrainian lands controlled by Russian-backed separatists Officials disputed the report, claiming Biden ‘made very clear that one nation can’t force another nation to change its border’ Ukrainian officials fear Putin may launch an invasion next month Almost 100,000 Russian troops have massed near the Ukrainian border
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President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for nearly 90 minutes Thursday amid the threat of Russia invading Ukraine, in what senior officials described as a ‘warm’ phone call.
Administration officials pushed back on reports that Biden was ready to make certain ‘concessions’ to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Associated Press reported in advance of the call that Biden may press Zelensky to formally cede some autonomy to a portion of Ukrainian lands already controlled by Russian-backed separatists in order to head off an invasion.
‘There very clearly were not’ any concessions made to the Russian leader, officials said Thursday evening.
‘President Biden made very clear that he stood by our principles, he made very clear that one nation can’t force another nation to change its border, one nation cannot tell another to change its politics, and nations can’t tell others who they can work with,’ senior administration officials said.
Biden voiced the United States’ ‘deep concerns’ over Russia’s military buildup at Ukraine’s eastern border,’ the White House said after the call.
The president also ‘made clear that the U.S. and our Allies would respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of a further military intervention,’ the White House said.
President Joe Biden is seen speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone
‘He reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners are committed to the principle of “no decisions or discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
‘The leaders called on Russia to de-escalate tensions and agreed that diplomacy is the best way to make meaningful progress on conflict resolution.’
The White House was forced to send a corrected readout of Biden and Zelensky’s call after mistakenly billing their initial statement as a ‘Readout of President Joe Biden’s Call with European Allies’ rather than the Ukrainian leader’s name.
In a separate call with the Bucharest Nine, the U.S.’s NATO allies in Eastern Europe, Biden discussed ways to abate the crisis ‘through deterrence, defense, and dialogue.’
During her regular briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked whether the president would ask Ukraine to cede territory to Russia.
‘That’s absolutely false,’ she said.
Psaki added that the president was expected to offer support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
‘President Biden was intending to discuss his deep concerns with Russia’s buildup on Ukraine’s borders and his commitment to respond to strong measures in the event of a Russian military escalation,’ she said.
In a tweet after the call ended, Zelensky said Biden updated him on talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky issued a tweet saying the two leaders spoke for about 90 minutes
‘We also discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbas and touched upon the course of internal reforms in Ukraine,’ he said, referring to eastern Ukraine.
The U.K. is to deploy additional troops in Eastern Europe amid tension in Belarus after thousands of migrants converged on the country’s borders in the hope of entering the EU.
The British Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday that 140 military engineers will be sent to Poland, adding to an existing team of 150 that are already based in the country. A separate team of reconnaissance specialists will also be sent to Lithuania.
‘Poland and Lithuania, along with their Baltic neighbor Latvia, have been under significant pressure from migration originating from Belarus and facilitated by the Lukashenko regime for a number of months,’ the MoD said.
The area of eastern Ukraine was given ‘special status’ in a European-brokered peace deal in 2015, but it never took hold.
Eastern Ukraine has been the source of tension since 2014. And Ukrainian lawmakers voted to extend the special status a year ago, until Dec. 31, 2021.
Biden talks on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the Oval Office
President Joe Biden (right) hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) at the White House on September 1. They spoke by phone Thursday amid Russia’s threatening military behavior toward Ukraine
The call follows weeks of a Russian military build up and after Biden said the U.S. would take a bigger role in trying to broker a diplomatic solution to the region’s tensions.
That means also addressing Ukrainian ambitions to join NATO – a red flag to Putin.
While Biden and allies have resisted Putin’s calls to deny NATO membership to Ukraine, senior State Department officials have made it known that Ukrainian membership is unlikely to be approved in the next decade.
On Tuesday morning, Biden held a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
‘I was very straightforward. There were no minced words. It was polite, but I made it very clear. If in fact, [Putin] invades Ukraine, there will be severe consequences, economic consequences like none he’s ever seen or ever have been seen being imposed,’ Biden said from the South Lawn Wednesday before traveling to Kansas City, Missouri.
‘I have absolute confidence he got the message,’ the president added.
The White House indicated that those threats included economic sanctions – including pushing the new German government to pull out of its Nord Stream 2 pipeline deal with Russia – as well as sending more troops to NATO allies in the region and supplying Ukraine with more material support.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said more U.S. troops could be headed to Poland and Romania, among others.
Biden stopped at sending U.S. troops into Ukraine.
‘That is not on the table,’ he told reporters Wednesday. ‘We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies if they were to attack under article 5, that’s a sacred obligation. That obligation does not extend to NATO – I mean to Ukraine,’ the president said, quickly correcting himself.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with deep cultural and historic ties to Russia, has pushed for closer relations with the West.
But that has worried Putin, who wants to keep NATO and the West away from his borders.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden (right) held a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) telling him there will be ‘severe consequences’ if he invades Ukraine
Ukrainian leaders fear he could launch an invasion by the end of January, and are engaged in a frantic round of diplomacy to ensure that Putin would face sanctions and other punitive measures.
Zelensky became a household name in the U.S. in 2019, as a prominent figure in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives – but then acquitted in the GOP-held Senate – over a July 25, 2019 phone call he held with Zelensky, the newly elected president of Ukraine.
On the call, Trump was accused of pressuring Zelensky to open up an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter, over Hunter’s business dealings in the country.
Biden, then a former vice president seeking the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination, was seen as a formidable threat to Trump’s re-election chances.
To influence Zelensky, Trump held up $400 million in military aid that Congress had approved for Ukraine and delayed an invitation to the White House.
Biden previously met with Zelensky in person at the White House on September 1.
After Biden speaks with Zelensky, he’ll hold a call with the so-called ‘Bucharest Nine’ group of NATO allies, which consists of the leaders from Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
