US: Hasn't Ruled Out Concessions on Ukrainian Territory

On Thursday, the U.S. President, Joe Biden said that he would not rule out ceding Ukrainian territory, stating that the responsibility lies on Kiev.

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Biden told to Reuters at NATO headquarters, that Washington would respect if Kiev decides to give up any territory to negotiate an end to the conflict with Russia. Referring to the matter the U.S. President said that’s “a total judgment based on Ukraine” if President Volodymyr Zelensky needs to grant any piece of land to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia.

“I don’t believe they’re going to have to do that,” Biden said, adding that “discussions have taken place that I have not been a part of,” between Kiev and Moscow representatives to negotiation talks. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” he said referring to the slogan the U.S. has adopted during the ongoing conflict. “It’s their judgment to make.”

President Biden noted that the White House would answer in case of Moscow using chemical weapons in Ukraine, but he did not give any further detail. According to the Pentagon and its allies, Russia might be potentially planning to introduce chemical weapons in Ukraine. The Russian government has firmly denied the accusations, alleging that Kiev might be planning a “false flag” to pin the blame on Moscow and trigger a NATO intervention. 

Biden said that resulting from the U.S.-led sanctions against Russia, followed by NATO, Japan, Australia, and South Korea so far, food shortages will come, but he stressed that the U.S. and Canada are major sources of wheat and are exploring ways to ramp up production and exports.

The U.S. President highlighted that NATO and the EU are working to establish an organization whose main objective would be to keep track of other countries violating their sanctions, warning this way to China about helping Russia.

“China understands its economic future is much more closely tied to the West than it is to Russia,” Biden said suggesting that such a move would position its economic interests in the West in “significant jeopardy.”