Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
The United States is willing to take diplomatic steps to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, a State Department spokesperson has said, as Kiev expresses its readiness to negotiate with Moscow.
The State Department spokesperson made the remarks on Saturday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the West should be more involved in negotiations to end the conflict with Russia, Reuters reported.
“If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian Government believes would be helpful, we’re prepared to take them”, the spokesperson said.
“We are working to put the Ukrainians in the strongest possible negotiating position, including by increasing pressure on Russia by imposing severe costs and by providing security assistance to help Ukrainians defend themselves.”
The Biden administration has imposed harsh economic and banking sanctions on Russia in response to its military actions in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden said the sanctions would limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen.
Biden said on Friday he is working with the US Congress and other Group of Seven (G-7) nations to revoke the “most favored nation” trade status for Russia.
The US president claimed that the only other alternative to the sanctions would be to start a “Third World War.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.
He also warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.
Putin said his country is defending Russian-speaking communities through the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday his country was ready to negotiate to end the conflict started by Russia’s military action more than two weeks ago, but would not surrender.
