Joe Biden reaffirmed America’s “unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” in a call with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday amid concerns the US president is open to negotiating with Russia over its demands to curb Nato’s expansion.
The outreach to Ukraine, and a separate call with nine eastern European Nato allies, came after Biden sparked worries the previous day when he said he planned to hold talks with Russia and at least four unnamed Nato allies over Moscow’s position on the alliance.
These discussions would cover “the future of Russia’s concerns relative to Nato writ large” and explore “whether or not we can work out any accommodations”, Biden said.
The comments followed a virtual meeting with Vladimir Putin the previous day that was intended to avert a potential invasion of Ukraine. The Russian president, who has overseen a large-scale military build-up on his country’s border with Ukraine that US intelligence has said could be used for an invasion, has demanded that Nato rule out making Kyiv a member.
Putin has also called on the transatlantic alliance to cease military deployments in eastern European member states bordering Russia.
On Thursday a senior White House official rejected accusations that Biden had made a “concession” by offering to discuss Putin’s concerns and that the US president had been slow to speak to Zelensky.
“The one thing that I would say that the president made crystal clear to Zelensky in his call today is that if Ukraine is on the agenda, then Ukraine is at the table,” the official said.
According to a White House readout of Biden’s call with the nine eastern flank Nato countries, the leaders discussed Russia’s military build-up along Ukraine’s border and “the need for a united, ready and resolute Nato stance for the collective defence of allies”.
However, some in the region have already expressed concerns over Biden’s offer to undertake talks over Russia’s position on Nato.
“I hope I’m wrong but I smell ‘Munich’ here,” Marko Mihkelson, head of the foreign affairs committee of Estonia’s parliament, told the Financial Times, in reference to the 1938 agreement in Europe to try to avoid conflict with Nazi Germany by ceding the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
“Starting talks under the guns about the future of Nato, or even more so about involving Russia in the European security architecture with a veto right — this is completely the wrong way and will ignite appetite for further aggression,” Mihkelson added.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the EU told the FT that Kyiv’s “red line” is that “Ukraine is a sovereign state and it is our business how we build our relations both with Nato, EU or individual states”.
“The main principle for us is that there are no words about Ukraine without Ukraine, so we need to be involved in any discussion with regard to the Ukrainian security situation,” said Vsevolod Chentsov. “Russians will have to accept it. There is no other way.”
Following his call with Biden, Zelensky tweeted that his US counterpart provided a briefing on his “negotiations with Putin”, adding that they “also discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbas”.
A White House spokesperson earlier denied the US was seeking to appease Russia: “President Biden looked President Putin in the eye and told him that one nation cannot tell another to change its borders.”
One senior western intelligence official said: “I wouldn’t rush to the conclusion that the worst-case scenario from their political perspective is the one Washington intends to pursue.”
“While everyone is prepared to engage in dialogue, there can be no concessions . . . in protecting our allies,” a Nato official told the FT. “And on Ukraine we are not negotiating the right of countries to choose their own path.”
Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor in Washington
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