US President Joe Bidenconfirmed his willingness to speak with his Russian counterpart this ThursdayVladimir Putin, however just to finish war in ukraine. “I am ready to talk to Putin if he decides that he is ready to look for ways to end the war,” he said at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.
Biden said the meeting with Putin would hypothetically take place during consultations with France and other NATO allies.
But so far, as he himself noted, the Russian leader has shown no signs of facilitating this exchange. “By the way, I think it’s definitely decisive, as Macron said. Let’s support the Ukrainian people“, added.
The US president stressed Putin was wrong in all his calculations thinking that it would be “received with open arms” by the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, which has been so far. “The question is, how are you going to get out of this situation you’ve gotten yourself into? If you want to talk, I’m ready,” she added with that look.
Stressing that it was Putin who wanted to start the war in February, Macron emphasized that it was “legitimate” for Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky to set preconditions. “We will never force the Ukrainians to come to a compromise that is unacceptable to them because it will never establish a lasting peace. If we want a lasting peace, we must respect what Ukrainians define. “The French president will negotiate the moments and conditions in their own territory and in their future,” he said.
According to Biden, their talks served to reaffirm that France and the United States stood together with their European allies, the European Union and the G7, “against Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine.”
The US president admitted that he never thought the conflict would be this violent, but he made it clear: Putin won’t win. “He thinks he can break the will of anyone who opposes his imperialist ambitions by attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, cutting off energy in Europe, exacerbating the food crisis and raising prices. (…) But he will not succeed”, the stress became.
They also reiterated their firm determination to hold Russia accountable for well-documented atrocities and war crimes, and to maintain coordination with other allies when sending aid to Ukraine.