President Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in his first conversation since Biden took office.
The call came amid what the White House called escalating Russian “aggression” in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
Biden “affirmed the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s continued aggression in Donbass and Crimea,” said a White House reading on the summons.
The president reiterated his support for the US “strategic partnership” with Ukraine and Zelensky’s anti-corruption agenda “based on our shared democratic values that provide justice, security and prosperity for the people of Ukraine,” added the White House.
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Prior to Biden’s call, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other American officials talked to their Ukrainian colleagues about the issue on at least three calls, according to Politico.
Blinken expressed “the government’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s continued aggression” in the region during one of the calls, the State Department said.
Ukraine pressed for Biden for weeks as a show of support for Russia, Politico said.
The Russian escalation includes violations of a July 2020 ceasefire, brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which resulted in the death of four Ukrainian soldiers in the eastern part of the country on 26 March and the wounding of two others, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said.
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The Ukrainian military said the four died in a mortar attack that it attributed to Russian troops. Russia denies having a military presence in the region. The State Department said Blinken expressed condolences for the losses.
“Russia’s destabilizing actions undermine the easing of tensions that was achieved through an OSCE-mediated agreement in July last year,” said Kirby of the hundreds of ceasefire violations reported in recent days. “In addition, we are aware of Ukrainian military reports on Russian troop movements across Ukraine’s borders.”
The Biden government recently approved $ 125 million in lethal aid to Ukraine to defend against Russia, according to Politico.
Before the 2020 election, then President Trump accused Biden of abusing his position when he was vice president by forcing the resignation of a Ukrainian prosecutor to help his son Hunter Biden, who was on the board of Ukrainian oil company Burisma at the time. No evidence of wrongdoing was found.
Trump himself was accused of asking Zelensky to investigate the Bidens during a phone call in July 2019, which led to his first impeachment in 2019, as it appeared that Biden would be his political opponent. He was acquitted in February 2020.
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The White House reading of Biden’s connection to Zelensky added that the two leaders also discussed the “importance of close cooperation between the United States and Ukraine to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen democracy in the region”.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.