US President Joe Biden, in a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on June 7, promised that he would speak with Russian leader Vladimir Putin about Ukraine’s sovereignty. This was reported on briefing at the White House, US President’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“I came here from the Oval Office, where President Biden speaks by phone with Ukrainian President Zelensky. President Biden had the opportunity to tell President Zelenskiy that he will strongly advocate for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and its intentions for the future. He also told President Zelenskiy that he would be delighted to welcome him to the White House here in Washington this summer upon his return from Europe, ”Sullivan said.
He added that during the call, the parties discussed “all issues of relations between the United States and Ukraine.”
At the same time, earlier that day it became known that the US administration changed its mind about inviting Zelensky to a meeting with Biden, which could have taken place before the summit of the US President with Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
Zelenskiy himself has previously expressed his readiness to meet with Biden ahead of the Russian-American summit.
However, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov on June 7 expressed the opinion that Zelensky would not tell Biden anything new except nonsense. The politician pointed to the senselessness of such a meeting, since, according to him, the head of the White House has already received the necessary information on the problems of Kiev from the State Department and leading experts.
In turn, the head of the Kiev delegation to the trilateral contact group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass, Leonid Kravchuk, said the day before that Biden needed to meet with Zelensky, since it is important to resolve issues related to Ukraine with the participation of the country.
The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden is to take place in Geneva on June 16. The Russian leader noted that he plans to discuss with his American counterpart strategic stability, disarmament, ecology and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as conflicts in hot spots.
On May 25, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said that Putin and Biden are aiming to conduct effective negotiations and restore dialogue formats between states