Biden to Ease Concerns over US Support in Ukraine
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CORRECTS YEAR – Kyiv Mayor and former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, left, welcomes U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, at Borispol airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. During his two-day visit, the vice president is expected to review anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine ahead of US economic assistance to the country. “Minsk can not succeed if Russia does not fulfill its commitment and (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin fails to live up to the promises he has repeatedly made to my president, to you and to the global community”.
The senior USA official said Biden would take extra care to stress that the overtures toward Putin in no way affected the West’s backing of Kyiv.
“The US stands firmly with the people of Ukraine in the face of continued, I emphasise, continued aggression from Russia and Russian-backed separatists”, he told Ukrainian President Poroshenko.
Joe Biden is to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, as well as the civil society activists. “We were denied it. By officially rejecting the proposed scheme, the United States thereby subscribed to not seeing any prospects of Ukraine restoring its solvency”, Lavrov said.
The U.S. administration also says Biden will reassure Ukraine that Washington’s strategy is to keep sanctions against Russian Federation in place until full implementation of the Minsk Accords, the internationally mediated agreements between Ukraine and Russian Federation on ending the eastern conflict and pulling back weapons.
But Ukraine has included it among the sovereign and sovereign-guaranteed bonds to be restructured in a deal with a group of its largest creditors.
Speaking after his talks with Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Biden urged the Ukrainian leadership to continue on the path of reforms and ramp up the fight against corruption.
Ukraine’s warring sides reached a truce deal at a summit attended by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on February 11 and 12.