WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said Tuesday that U.S. and NATO allies are applying increasing pressure on Moscow, the same day that Russian officials declared a new offensive in eastern Ukraine.
“I know the press is always asking me, with good reason, why I’m always on the phone talking with other world leaders trying to keep them organized,” Biden said in New Hampshire about his morning call with the leaders of Britain, Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, NATO, Poland and Romania.
“Well, one of the things I did is, I went on and got a lot of other countries to agree today to release petroleum from their [strategic] reserves.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden and the leaders also spoke about providing more ammunition and security assistance to Kyiv.
Russia declared Tuesday that it had launched its new offensive for control of eastern Ukraine with the bombardment of targets across the Donbas region, but Ukraine said it was defending the territory and repulsing some of the initial attacks.
“Another phase of this operation is starting now,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, adding that Moscow’s goal was the “complete liberation” of the Donetsk and Luhansk territories in the east.
In Washington, a senior Defense Department official called the new Russian military operations a “prelude” for bigger ones to come, saying, “There’s a real possibility that this could go on for a while, because both sides can be fairly dug in here, and be dug in fairly well.”
The official said Ukraine is outmanned numerically compared to the Russian forces, but “that doesn’t mean that they don’t have advantages of their own or the ability to actively defend themselves,” with weapons being “replenished every single day.”
Some segments of the $800 million U.S. tranche of military aid that Biden approved last week have already arrived in Ukraine.
The defense official said another half dozen or more flights with more armaments are landing in Ukraine in the next 24 hours.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that the United States is sending military aid in response to the situation on the ground.
(VOA)
Comment