US President Joe Biden said yesterday that he is putting together a series of comprehensive initiatives aimed at making it difficult for Russian President Vladimir Putin to move into Ukraine.
Biden, answering reporters' questions after a speech at the White House on the American economy, said that he had not yet spoken to Putin.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznykov warned earlier yesterday that Russia has massed more than 94.000 troops near Ukraine's borders and may be preparing for a large-scale military offensive at the end of January.
"I'm putting together what I believe is the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he's going to do," Biden said.
He told reporters that his administration was in "constant contact" with Ukraine and European allies regarding the situation, Reuters reported.
US and Ukrainian officials warned again this week that tough economic sanctions against Russia are on the table.
A senior administration official, asked what Biden was talking about, said: "Since the beginning of this administration, we have shown that the United States and our allies are willing to use a range of tools to address harmful Russian actions, and we will not hesitate to use those and other tools in the future." .
Moscow has accused Ukraine and the US of destabilizing behavior and hinted that Kiev may be preparing to launch its own offensive in eastern Ukraine, which Ukrainian authorities deny.
Russia has been pushing for top-level talks with the US for weeks. The Kremlin announced yesterday that the two countries have an approximate date and time for a video summit between Putin and Biden in the coming days, but that Moscow is waiting for Washington to finalize it.
A US official told Reuters the call could come as early as next week.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin plans to present a proposal to Biden for security guarantees that would halt NATO's eastward expansion and end what Moscow describes as a threatening deployment of weapons on the territories of Russia's neighbors, including Ukraine. He also denied that Russia is aggressive along the Ukrainian border.
"It's nonsense, there is no escalation. We have the right to move troops on our own territory," said Ušakov.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm that Moscow will pay a heavy price if it escalates the conflict.
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