In view of the escalation in the Ukraine crisis, US President Joe Biden has announced further military aid for Kiev and the deployment of troops to Eastern Europe.
“The United States, meanwhile, will continue to provide defense assistance to Ukraine, and we will continue to strengthen our NATO allies,” Biden said Tuesday. Shortly before, Biden had also met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in the White House, who was in Washington for talks.
Biden said he approved the transfer of additional US soldiers and equipment to the states of the three Baltic NATO partners Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, especially since Russia does not want to withdraw its troops in Belarus. US soldiers are already in Europe, he added. “Let me be clear: these are defensive moves on our part. We have no plan to fight Russia,” Biden said. The US would defend “every centimeter” of NATO territory if necessary.
According to the US military, it currently has more than 80,000 soldiers in Europe, including around 35,000 in Germany. Most recently, Biden had relocated around 5,000 additional soldiers from the USA to Eastern Europe because of the Ukraine conflict.
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The US punitive measures announced by Biden will target two major banks, Russian government bond traders and supporters of Putin and their families. Biden stressed that the US is ready to take even tougher steps if Russia continues to press ahead with its crackdown on Ukraine.
In light of the recent escalation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. In view of Moscow’s actions, there was no point in holding on to the talks originally scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, Blinken said in Washington on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Monday evening. The Kremlin chief also ordered the deployment of Russian soldiers to the separatist regions.