US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin talked over the phone for more than 1 hour on Saturday as tensions over the Ukraine crisis reach a boiling point.
According to White House officials, Biden, during the call, warned Putin that Ukraine attack will bring “swift and severe costs”.
Biden said that the United States “will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia” should it invade Ukraine.
According to a readout from the White House, Biden stressed that “while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios.”
Putin, on the other hand, slammed the Western countries claim of an imminent Moscow invasion of Ukraine as a “provocation”.
A US official told AFP that more than one-hour call between Biden and Putin had “no fundamental change.”
“The call was professional and substantive and lasted a bit over an hour. There was no fundamental change in the dynamics unfolding now for several weeks,” an unnamed US official said.
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Meanwhile, Dutch flight carrier KLM has suspended flights to Ukraine until further notice.
The airline said it had cancelled its scheduled Saturday evening flight to Kyiv and suspended all other Ukraine flights “until further notice”, after it conducted a “comprehensive security analysis” as the Dutch government warned citizens against travel to the country.
Russia has massed well over 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border and has sent troops to exercises in neighbouring Belarus, but denies that it intends to launch an offensive against Ukraine.
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The timing of any possible Russian military action is unclear.
But the US intelligence claims that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date, according to media reports.
The White House publicly underscored that the US does not know with certainty whether Putin is committed to invasion.
(With inputs from agencies)
