Biden to call Ukraine leader

Washington, Dec. 9: US President Joe Biden will call Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday in a show of support after warning Vladimir Putin of sanctions “like none he’s ever seen” should Russian troops attack Ukraine.

The dramatic warning came a day after Biden and Putin talked for two hours by video link, and the US leader said his Russian counterpart got “the message.” After speaking to Zelensky, Biden will call nine Nato Eastern European countries, including Poland and the Baltic states, to discuss his summit with Putin, the White House said.

“I made it very clear if in fact he invades Ukraine there will be severe consequences, severe consequences — economic consequences like none he’s ever seen or ever have been seen,” Biden said at the White House.

But he added that sending US troops to confront Russia was “not on the table.” Zelensky has said it was “positive” the US and Russian leaders spoke directly. “I believe that Ukraine’s victory lies in the fact that the United States has always supported Ukraine, our sovereignty and independence,” the Ukrainian leader said after the Putin-Biden call.

Western European countries added to the diplomatic pressure on the Kremlin following the BidenPutin talks. New German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned of “consequences” for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a controversial Russian project to deliver natural gas to Germany. France’s foreign ministry warned Russia would face “strategic and massive consequences.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had heard a similar message during talks with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. They “agreed on the need to impose swift and severe costs on Russia if it escalates its aggression in Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

Putin justified Russia’s movement of up to 100,000 troops to the border of Ukraine over the past few weeks as a defensive measure. —