US President Joe Biden said he was putting together “the most comprehensive set of initiatives”.
Washington:
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he would make it “very, very difficult” for Russia to launch any invasion of Ukraine, warning that a large-scale attack could be planned. planned next month.
Washington and Kiev say Moscow has gathered troops near the Ukrainian border and accused Russia of planning an invasion.
Biden and President Vladimir Putin will soon hold a video call to discuss the growing tensions, both sides confirmed Friday.
Biden told reporters in Washington that he is putting together “the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very unlikely for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people worry he has.” can do.”
Moscow took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has since supported separatists fighting Kiev in the east of the country. The conflict has left more than 13,000 people dead.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told parliament in Kiev on Friday: “The most likely time to achieve readiness for escalation will be the end of January.”
A report in the Washington Post on Friday, citing US officials and an intelligence document, said Russia was planning a multi-pronged attack involving 175,000 troops as soon as next year.
Reznikov said the “winter training phase” has begun in Russia, and Moscow has conducted drills near Ukrainian territory.
He estimates that Russia has about 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border. Russia denies any military buildup.
“This is our land”
On the front lines in eastern Ukraine, government troops say they are ready to repel any Russian attack.
“Our mission is simple: don’t let the enemy enter our country,” a soldier named Andriy, 29, told AFP, smoking in a trench near the frontline town of Svitlodarsk.
“All of our boys are ready to keep them. This is our land, we will defend it to the end,” added another soldier, Yevgen, 24.
Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters a date has been agreed for the Putin-Biden video summit but will not be released until the final details of the meeting. negotiations are set.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the call was expected “in the very near future.”
When asked if he spoke to Putin on Friday morning, Biden shouted “no” as he left a news conference in Washington.
He did not give further details about his planned “initiatives” on Ukraine.
Putin has warned the West and Kiev not to cross the Kremlin’s “red lines” in holding military exercises and building weapons in Ukraine.
When reporters asked Biden if he accepted Putin’s line, he replied: “I won’t accept anyone’s red line.”
Although contacts between the two adversaries have increased since Putin and Biden first met at a summit in Geneva in June, tensions remain high.
As with the Ukraine conflict, Russia and the United States continue to squabble over cyberattacks and the staffing of their embassies, following several rounds of diplomatic expulsions.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP on Friday that it rejected any attempt to cancel its plans to join NATO.
Moscow wants to end NATO’s eastward expansion, after much of Eastern Europe joined the alliance following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Agreeing to drop plans to join the coalition “is not an option,” Kuleba said on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting in Stockholm.
He said: “I reject the idea that we have to guarantee anything to Russia. I emphasize that it is Russia that must ensure that it will not continue to provoke any country.”
NATO officially opened its doors to Ukraine for membership in 2008, although no progress has been made since.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
