Biden, Putin face off over Ukraine border

The U.S. and Russian presidents met virtually for two hours on Tuesday. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that President Joe Biden warned his counterpart in Moscow that the U.S. and European allies would punish Russia with economic measures if the country invaded Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin was expected to demand guarantees from Biden that the NATO military alliance will never expand to include Ukraine, which has long sought membership. Americans and NATO allies have repeatedly refused this request.

What is happening in Ukraine? Russia has amassed close to 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border and could increase that number to 175,000, according to U.S. intelligence reports. Just hours before the call got underway, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of escalating the crisis by sending tanks and snipers to war-torn eastern Ukraine. Biden was vice president in 2014 when Russian troops marched into the peninsula of Crimea and seized the territory from Ukraine. Sullivan said Biden threatened harsher measures than the sanctions that were imposed in 2014. A Kremlin statement accused NATO of creating the crisis by attempting to take over Ukraine and pose a threat to Russia.

Dig deeper: Read Marvin Olasky’s interview with George Friedman, a geopolitical analyst, on forecast tensions with world superpowers.