President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly plans to push the Ukrainian government to appease Russian President Vladimir Putin by ceding territory, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
Biden held a virtual meeting Tuesday with Putin, during which Biden threatened an “economic” response should Russia invade Ukraine. Russian troops have been amassing on Ukraine’s border for weeks, a nation that has long sought to join NATO but is unlikely to gain membership within the next decade, officials told AP.
U. S. officials reportedly plan to urge Ukraine to grant autonomy to eastern regions that are still controlled by separatists who participated in the 2014 Russia-backed revolt against the Ukrainian government. The eastern Donbas region has held a vague “special status” since the 2014 uprising, a status Ukrainian parliament voted to extend for another year on Dec. 3.
Biden has previously confirmed that deploying U. S. troops to help Ukraine fend off an invasion is not on the table, focusing instead on economic sanctions.
“We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies if they were to attack under Article 5, it’s a sacred obligation,” Biden said. “That obligation does not extend to NATO – I mean to Ukraine. But it would depend upon what rest of the NATO countries were willing to do as well. But the idea that the United States is goin… (Read more)
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