Don’t abandon Ukraine: Biden

President Joe Biden will urge Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine during a meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) amid concerns that the president-elect could halt military assistance in the war against Russia.

This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on November 11, 2024, shows a heavily damaged residential building after a Russian strike in Kryvyi Rig, Dnipropetrovsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / STATE EMERGENSY SERVICE OF UKRAINE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / State Emergency Service of Ukraine " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

President Joe Biden will urge Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine during a meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) amid concerns that the president-elect could halt military assistance in the war against Russia.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Mr Biden would push the case for continuing military support for Ukraine at the talks with Trump to discuss a smooth transition of power.

Mr Trump, who has pledged to end the war within a day of taking office, has criticised Biden’s support of Ukraine and boasted of his “very good relationship” with President Vladimir Putin. He has vowed to get the US “out” of the war.

The US has provided the majority of military assistance since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. Mr Biden will argue that “the United States should not walk away from Ukraine; that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe”, Mr Sullivan told CBS.

Mr Biden will spend the remaining $US6bn in Ukraine security assistance funds before leaving office to put the country “in the strongest possible position on the battlefield so that it is ultimately in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table”.

Mr Trump has apparently advised Mr Putin not to escalate the conflict, the largest in Europe since 1945, before talks about a “resolution”. The two men spoke on Thursday, two days after Trump secured a second term, according to The Washington Post.

Mr Trump, who was said to have spoken from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, “reminded” Mr Putin that the US has a sizeable military presence in Europe.

The Kremlin said that no call had taken place and accused the newspaper of inventing the story. “There was no conversation,” Putin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. “This is pure fiction.”

Although the two have indicated that they are open to discussions, Mr Peskov said there were “no concrete plans” for talks yet. Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said: “We do not comment on private calls.”

The Kremlin initially reacted cautiously to Mr Trump’s election victory. However, on Thursday, Mr Putin congratulated him during a forum in Sochi.

THE TIMES