“We will see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are. We’ll see if they follow what they suggest,” Biden said at the White House, where officials were busy digesting information and reports from the ground that Russian troops were shifting their focus from the Ukrainian capital to other areas of the country .
Biden’s “don’t trust but verify” approach reflects deep American skepticism about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motives in light of his month-long invasion of Ukraine. While the US has been monitoring movements of Russian forces away from Kyiv, doubts remain that the Russian attack on Ukraine will end anytime soon.
Some Western officials viewed Russia’s moves as a mere tactical exercise amid a deadlocked campaign in Ukraine. US officials also said Russia could turn back at any time if combat conditions permitted.
Similarly, American officials appeared cautious about expressing optimism about ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which both sides hinted at as progress on Tuesday. Instead, Biden focused on making sure the tough sanctions regime he enacted with European allies remains in place even as hostilities continue.
At a meeting in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian teams began to outline the outlines of an agreement, including discussions on the status of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Donbass, the eastern region that Russia declares independent. Ukraine’s neutral status and international security guarantees are also up for discussion, as is a possible meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
US officials have questioned Putin’s seriousness in negotiating an end to the violence since the crisis began. Some have also made it clear that they are unsure about Zelenskyi’s endgame in the talks and are wary of whatever concessions he might make.
Speaking in the East Room alongside the visiting Singaporean prime minister, Biden said he discussed beginning peace talks with European leaders in a 53-minute phone call earlier in the day. He said there was a “consensus” among leaders, “let’s just see what they have to offer. We’ll find out what they do.”
“Meanwhile, we will continue to keep sanctions strong. We will continue to provide the Ukrainian military with its self-defense capability and we will continue to closely monitor what is going on,” Biden added.
Biden’s aides echoed his opinion, saying that while there were signs of troop movements, a new strategy was not underway.
“We have no reason to believe that they have adjusted, that they have adjusted that strategy,” Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, said during a daily briefing. “Of course we continue to do everything we can to impose costs for this decision.”
During a diplomatic visit to Morocco, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken warned that the withdrawal of troops “could constitute a means by which Russia is once again trying to distract and deceive people into believing that it is not doing what it is doing”.
“If you somehow believe that an attempt to ‘just’—in quotes—subdue the eastern part of Ukraine and the southern part of Ukraine can be successful, then you are deluding yourself once again,” Blinken said in one joint message conference with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
And the Pentagon warned that although “small numbers” of Russian forces have withdrawn from Kyiv “in the last few days or so,” Russia can still inflict “massive brutality” on the city.
“We believe this is a repositioning, not an actual retreat, and that we should all be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing. “Nobody should be fooled by the Kremlin’s renewed claims that it will suddenly only reduce military attacks near Kyiv, or by any reports that it will withdraw all its troops.”
Kirby said the number of Russian forces moving out of the Ukrainian capital “is nowhere near the majority of what they deployed against Kyiv,” and that Russia has continued airstrikes on the city “even today.”
He added: “This does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over.”
For its part, Moscow was quick to clarify that its announced plans for de-escalation near Kyiv did not amount to a ceasefire. Russian Presidential Advisor Vladimir Medinsky told Russian state broadcaster RT that the first step Russia has agreed to in talks with Ukraine “concerns a gradual military de-escalation in two main directions, Kyiv and Chernihiv,” adding: “We understand that people in the country are Kyiv who have to make decisions, so we don’t want to put this city at additional risk.”
Biden’s phone call with European allies came days after he returned to Washington from a last-minute trip to Belgium and Poland to reaffirm America’s commitment to security in the region. He spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
Macron in particular acted as the interlocutor between Putin and the West, and the two men spoke to Biden on Tuesday after the group meeting. The French President had warned of an escalation of the crisis after Biden said in Warsaw that Putin “cannot stay in power”.
The White House said the remark — which Biden tried to explain Monday as an emotional reaction to meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw — did not surface in his call Tuesday morning.