In a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, United States (US) President Joe Biden discussed ways to de-escalate tensions with Russia over the conflict in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine.
According to a statement released by the White House, Biden reaffirmed the US and its European allies’ commitment to Ukraine and also warned Russia that they would “respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of a further military intervention.”
Biden also urged Moscow to engage in diplomacy, calling it “the best way to make meaningful progress on conflict resolution,” while offering American support to mediate the implementation of the Minsk Agreements through the Normandy Format.
Soon after the call with Zelensky, Biden spoke with the Bucharest Nine (B9), a group of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) eastern European members. The group consists of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
The US president and the B9 leaders stressed on adopting a unified NATO stance against Russia’s destabilising efforts through its military build-up along the Ukrainian border. They also emphasised on working towards de-escalation of the ongoing crisis through “deterrence, defence, and dialogue.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian President posted on Twitter that he and Biden had discussed possible formats for diplomatic engagement with Russia to resolve the conflict in Donbas and “internal reforms in Ukraine.”
Finished a 1.5-hour conversation with @POTUS. The President of the United States informed me of the content of his negotiations with Putin. We also discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbas and touched upon the course of internal reforms in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/boKzAdiyeU
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 9, 2021
Talking to the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1, Zelensky’s Chief of Staff, Andriy Yermak, said, “President Biden said very clearly...that any negotiations, any decisions that concern Ukraine, cannot be taken without Ukraine.” About Ukraine’s application for NATO membership, Yermak said, “The decision on Ukraine’s accession to NATO is the decision of the Ukrainian people only; this is a sovereign and independent Ukrainian state.”
Tensions over a full-blown military conflict between Russia and Ukraine continue despite the US and NATO’s diplomatic efforts. US intelligence has reported that Russia has amassed an estimated 175,000 troops along the border with Ukraine in preparation for an invasion early next year. Russia, meanwhile, has accused Ukraine of deploying half of its army to the conflict region in Eastern Ukraine.
In 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. Since then, Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian government in the Donbas region. The US and its European allies have called Russia’s behaviour illegal. Russia, however, says it is defending Ukrainian citizens who are under threat from their own government.
The conflict has resulted in at least 3,393 civilian deaths and more than 7,000 casualties since 2014, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
During a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to the ongoing conflict in Donbas as a “genocide.”
Earlier this week, Putin and Biden conducted a two-hour video call to discuss the Russian aggression at the Ukrainian border. Although the two leaders failed to reach an agreement, they hinted at future possibilities of diplomacy as Putin demanded legal guarantees against NATO’s eastward expansion.