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Ukraine
WorldRussia & Central Asia

Biden warns Putin a Ukraine attack would bring ‘widespread human suffering’

  • A phone call between the two leaders brought no major change in the stand-off; Kremlin denounces ‘hysteria of the White House’
  • US orders the evacuation of most of its embassy staff from the Ukrainian capital

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A combination of files pictures with US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held a phone conversation on Saturday about the crisis in Ukraine. Photo: AFP
Associated PressandReuters
US President Joe Biden told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that invading Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering” and that the West was committed to diplomacy to end the crisis but “equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said on Saturday. It offered no suggestion that the hour-long call diminished the threat of an imminent war in Europe.

Biden also said the United States and its allies would respond “decisively and impose swift and severe costs” if the Kremlin attacked its neighbour, according to the White House.

The two presidents spoke a day after Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, warned that US intelligence shows a Russian invasion could begin within days and before the Winter Olympics in Beijing end on February 20.

Russia denies it intends to invade but has massed well over 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border and has sent troops to exercises in neighbouring Belarus, encircling Ukraine on three sides. US officials say Russia’s build-up of firepower has reached the point where it could invade on short notice.

This image provided by The White House via Twitter shows President Joe Biden at Camp David, Maryland, on Saturday. He again called on President Vladimir Putin to pull back more than 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s borders. Photo: AP
This image provided by The White House via Twitter shows President Joe Biden at Camp David, Maryland, on Saturday. He again called on President Vladimir Putin to pull back more than 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s borders. Photo: AP

The conversation came at a critical moment for what has become the biggest security crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War. US officials believe they have mere days to prevent an invasion and enormous bloodshed in Ukraine. And while the US and its Nato allies have no plans to send troops to Ukraine to fight Russia, an invasion and resulting punishing sanctions could reverberate far beyond the former Soviet republic, affecting energy supplies, global markets and the power balance in Europe.

“President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House statement said.
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