“I expressed concern about the buildup of Russian military forces on the border with Ukraine and in the occupied Crimea. I confirmed my support for the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine. And now it is time to de-escalate this conflict,” the head of the White House said.
He said the US must move forward with thoughtful dialogue in this process.
Biden had a telephone conversation with Putin on April 13. Presidents discussed a number of issues, including the aggravation of the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Context:
- After the annexation of Crimea in eastern Ukraine, Russia began an armed aggression. The fighting is between the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the one hand and the Russian army and Russian-backed militants who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the other. Officially, the Russian Federation does not recognize its invasion of Ukraine, despite the facts and evidence presented by Ukraine.
- July 22, 2020 Trilateral Contact Group agreed the regime a complete and comprehensive ceasefire in the Donbas since midnight on 27 July.
- At the beginning of 2021, the situation in Donbass worsened. The Joint Forces operation headquarters has repeatedly reported that the enemy is firing sniper fire. In February, the first president of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass, Leonid Kravchuk, said, what “there is simply no truce “.
- In late March – early April, the media and eyewitnesses began to publish video evidence that Russia was actively transfers military equipment to Crimea across the Kerch bridge and pulls troops to the border with Ukraine.
- On March 30, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak confirmed that the Russian Federation builds up troops near the border with Ukraine and in the occupied Crimea, which “poses a threat to the military security of the state.” Ukrainian intelligence said that Russia wants to expand military presence on the territory controlled by the “DPR” and “LPR” militants through the introduction of regular units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and did not rule out an attempt to move Russian troops deep into the territory of Ukraine.
- According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba, the current escalation by the Russian Federation in Donbass is systemic and the most ambitious in recent years.
- Due to the escalation of the situation in Donbass, the US command in Europe announced maximum availability… According to White House and US State Department, the number of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine is the largest since 2014.
- Reuters interlocutors in the Kremlin stated that it was a show of forcerather than preparing for large-scale action. Former commander of the American army in Europe Ben Hodges suggests that pulling in troops can be a “posturing of Russia” and a “test” of the administration the new president of the United States, Joe Biden.
- Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine Yulia Mendel said on April 12 that on the eastern border with Ukraine, the Russian Federation has placed more than 40 thousand. military personnel, the same number of Russian military personnel are in the occupied Crimea.
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