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Joe Biden promises Ukraine leader US will counter Russian expansion

  • Joe Biden meets Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in long-sought Oval Office visit
  • The United States has promised more military aid to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia

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President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Photo: AP
Bloomberg
US President Joe Biden sought to reassure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States would counter Russian hostility toward his country as the leaders met for the first time at the White House.

Biden told Zelensky that the US “remains firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression”.

Zelensky thanked Biden for US donations of coronavirus vaccines and a new, US$60 million package of security aid, but said he would press the US president on Ukraine’s aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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Ukraine already participates in many Nato missions, including the evacuation of Afghanistan last month, but its admission to the alliance would be regarded in Moscow as a provocation.

Zelensky has had a complicated relationship with the US. A phone call with former president Donald Trump became central to Trump’s first impeachment after a whistle-blower complained that he held up military aid to pressure Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son. Trump defended the call as “perfect”.

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Andriy Yermak, a Zelensky aid whose conversations with Trump’s then-lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, also factored in the impeachment investigation, accompanied the Ukrainian president to his meeting with Biden.

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