Biden Reaffirms The Commitment Of The U.S. To Ukraine
Newsy
The two leaders agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence, the White House said.
Ukraine's president urged calm amid intensified warnings of a possible Russian invasion within days, saying he had yet to see convincing evidence of that, even as the U.S. reported Sunday that Moscow positioned more of its troops closer to Ukraine's borders and some airlines canceled flights to the capital of Kyiv.
President Joe Biden spoke for about 50 minutes Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and renewed promises of what the West says will be tough economic sanctions against Moscow and a NATO buildup in the event of "any further Russian aggression" against Ukraine, the White House said. They agreed to pursue both deterrence and diplomacy in the crisis, it added.
The U.S. updated its estimate for how many Russian forces were now staged near Ukraine's borders to more than 130,000, up from the 100,000 the U.S. has cited publicly in previous weeks. A U.S. official gave the estimate, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's conclusion.
