Ukraine crisis: Biden warns Americans to leave now as ‘things could go crazy quickly’ as mediation over conflict in Eastern Ukraine failed
US President Joe Biden has repeated his warning that any Americans still in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organisation. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly,” he said in an interview with NBC News broadcast on Thursday.
Asked whether there was any scenario that would prompt him to send US troops to Ukraine to rescue Americans, the president said: “There’s not. That’s a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another.”
“We’re in a very different world than we’ve ever been,” he added.
He argued that if Putin is “foolish enough to go in, he’s smart enough not to, in fact, do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens.”
Asked whether he’s ever said that to Putin, Biden said he had. “I didn’t have to tell him that. I’ve spoken about that. He knows that,” the US president said.
The State Department for weeks has advised Americans in Ukraine to leave the country.
Foreign policy advisers from Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine, who met in Paris last month, held another round of talks in Berlin. They reported no progress on the implementation of a 2015 peace agreement that helped end full-scale hostilities between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Senior officials from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France failed to reach a breakthrough in talks on Thursday over a conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed armed groups have been engaged in sporadic fighting in eastern Ukraine. Concerns are rising that Russia may use the situation as a pretext for invading Ukraine.
Russian representative Dmitry Kozak said the meeting ended with no major results. He said the four parties agreed to continue their discussions on the implementation of ceasefire agreements reached in 2014 and 2015.
On Thursday, Russian and Belarusian forces began joint drills in Belarus. The United States and some other countries fear that Russia could use the opportunity to mobilize troops and invade Ukraine.
LENS/AP
