U.S. REASSURES UKRAINE, WARNS RUSSIA
Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered inperson assurances to Ukraine’s besieged leaders Wednesday as President Joe Biden vowed to punish Russia if it invades the former Soviet republic.
“The world is watching,” Blinken said in a short news conference with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in the capital city of Kyiv.
Soon after Blinken’s meetings with leaders in Ukraine, Biden said that he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a move with his troops massed at the countries’ border. “I’m not so sure that he is certain what is he going to do,” Biden said at a news conference Wednesday at the White House.
“But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine,” Biden said.
“Our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy,” he added.
Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and could double the number in “relatively short order,” Blinken said. Russian reinforcements reportedly also have been moved into Moscow ally Belarus, on Ukraine’s northern border. Russia is also supporting separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
Blinken said the U.S. and its European allies remained united over helping Ukraine fend off Russia’s “relentless” aggression and urged the same unity from the oftenbickering officials in Kyiv. “Do not let Moscow divide you,” he said.
“That means that leaders inside and outside Ukraine’s government have to put aside their differences in favor of the shared national interest and work together to prepare for what could be difficult days,” Blinken said. “But in doing that, the United States wants you to know this, as you stand up to efforts to divide, to intimidate, to threaten: The United States stands with you, resolutely, in your right to make decisions for your own future, to shape that future as Ukrainians for Ukraine.”
The U.S. top diplomat is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Friday in Geneva.