The two leaders will discuss a range of topics, including upcoming security talks between the countries and a tense situation in Europe, White House National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement on Wednesday.Horne said Biden had spoken with leaders across Europe about the situation on the Ukraine border, while Biden administration officials were in touch with NATO, the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Russia denies planning to attack Ukraine and says it has the right to move its troops on its own soil as it likes. “We are at a moment of crisis and have been for some weeks now given the Russian build-up, and it will take a high level of engagement to address this and to find a path of de-escalation,”said one of the officials, who declined to be named.“When President Biden has asked to speak with President Putin over the course of 2021, President Putin has said, Yes,let’s talk. And when President Putin says, I’m interested in touching base and having a phone call, President Biden says yes.
JSTARS, a type of US military spy plane, operated in Ukrainian airspace for the first time earlier this week, though different types of surveillance aircraft are common in the region, officials said.