US & Russia hold first high-level meet since Ukraine invasion: White House

The US and NATO have for days now voiced suspicions that Russia could commence a chemical or biological invasion in Ukraine.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday talked with General Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, in the primary high-level contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the White House announced.

Sullivan answered back US opposition to the attack, which started on February 24, and said to Patrushev that “if Russia is significant about diplomacy then Moscow should cease attacking Ukrainian cities and towns,” the statement asserted.

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He “certainly laid out the United States’ commitment to proceed imposing expenses on Russia,” to support Ukraine’s defence and to reinforce NATO’s eastern side, “in ceaseless full coordination with our Allies and partners.”

The US and NATO have for days now voiced suspicions that Russia could commence a chemical or biological invasion in Ukraine, and Sullivan instructed General Patrushev about the outcomes and implications of any feasible Russian decision to do so.

The statement came soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an important virtual address to the US Congress in which he summoned the horror of the war and instructed Washington to reexamine his petition for a no-fly zone.

Biden has so far clearly ruled out any no-fly zone threat that could lead NATO into “World War III” with nuclear-armed Russia. Rather he has put crippling sanctions on Russia and poured money and assistance into Ukraine.

At 11.45 am (15:45 GMT) Wednesday he is slated to declare a further $800 million in fresh security aid to Ukraine, a White House official has announced.