Joe Biden stated that he would make Russia “very, very difficult” to launch any invasion. Ukraine, It warned that a large-scale attack may be planned next month.
Washington and Kiev say Moscow has Gathered troops near the Ukrainian border and accused Russia of planning an invasion.
The Kremlin denies these allegations and said on Friday that it will conduct a video call next week Between President Vladimir Putin and Biden.
Biden told reporters that he is formulating “the most comprehensive and meaningful series of measures that will make it difficult for Putin to continue to do what people fear he might do.”
Moscow seized from Crimea Ukraine In 2014, he has since supported the separatists fighting Kiev in the east of the country. This conflict has caused more than 13,000 deaths.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov told the parliament in Kiev on Friday: “The most likely time to prepare for the upgrade is the end of January.”
The Minister says the “winter training period” has begun Russia And Moscow has carried out exercises near Ukrainian territory.
He estimated that Russia has about 100,000 soldiers near the Ukrainian border.
On the front lines in eastern Ukraine, government forces stated that they are ready to repel any Russian offensive.
“Our task is simple: keep the enemy from entering our country,” a 29-year-old soldier told AFP as he smoked in a trench near the front-line town of Svetlodarsk.
“All of us are ready to stop them. This is our land, and we will protect it until the end,” added Yevgen, another 24-year-old soldier.
The Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the date of the Putin-Biden video summit has been agreed, but will not be announced until the final details of the talks are confirmed.
The United States has indicated that the call is planned, but no date has been confirmed.
When asked if he had spoken to Putin on Friday morning, Biden yelled “No” when he left the employment data press conference in Washington.
Although contact between the two rivals has increased since Putin and Biden met for the first time at a summit in Geneva in June, tensions remain high.
In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, after several waves of diplomatic expulsions, Russia and the United States continue to argue over cyber attacks and embassy staffing.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba told AFP on Friday that it rejected any effort to get it to cancel its NATO membership plan.
Moscow wants to see the end of NATO’s eastward expansion Europe Joined the alliance after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Kuleba said on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting in Stockholm that agreeing to abandon the plan to join the alliance was “not an option”.
“I am opposed to the idea that we must guarantee anything to Russia. I insist that Russia must guarantee that it will not continue to invade any country,” he said.
NATO officially opened its doors to Ukraine in 2008, but has not made any progress since.
