Frozen Russian assets could be used to rebuild Ukraine, says EU chief
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Joe Biden has said he is ready to speak with Vladimir Putin if the Russian president is interested in ending the war in Ukraine, as he sought to alleviate European anger over US subsidies.
"Let me choose my words very carefully," Mr Biden said.
"I’m prepared to speak with Mr Putin if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet," the US president said as he met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Washington.
The French leader said he would continue to talk to Mr Putin to "try to prevent escalation and to get some very concrete results" like assurances on the safety of nuclear plants.
The two leaders also looked at easing economic tensions paralysing the EU and other Western nations in their Oval Office talks.
On the war’s frontlines, Russian rockets pounded neighbourhoods in Kherson knocking out power in the city and intense shelling continued to batter a number of eastern frontline villages near the city of Bakhmut.
Biden willing to discuss end to Ukraine war with Putin
Joe Biden said he would be willing to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin to learn whether he’s willing to end his nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, but not unilaterally and only after discussions with America’s Nato allies first.
Mr Biden said he’d take a meeting with Mr Putin “if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do”, speaking at a news conference alongside French president Emmanuel Macron after a three-hour bilateral meeting between the two leaders and their respective advisers.
“But I’ll only do it in consultation with my Nato allies. I’m not going to do it on my own,” he added.
The American leader also thanked his French counterpart for welcoming over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to his shores, adding that such actions were “a mark of who you are as a people”.
“Putin thinks that he can crush the will of all those who oppose his imperial ambitions by attacking civilian infrastructures in Ukraine, choking off energy to Europe as a driver of crisis, [and] exacerbating [a] food crisis that’s hurting very vulnerable people not just in Ukraine, but around the world. And he’s not going to succeed,” he said.
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Mr Biden says the United States and France stand ‘as strong as ever against Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine’
Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Friday, 2 December.
