US, Europe urge West not to drop guard against Russia

The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy on Tuesday urged the West not to drop its guard against Russia after Moscow signalled it would scale down fighting around Kyiv and another Ukrainian city.

“We’ll see if they follow through,” Biden told reporters in Washington shortly after holding a phone call with the four key western European allies. “There seems to be a consensus that let’s just see what they have to offer.”

In a statement, the White House said the five leaders agreed to no let up in strong economic sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

“The leaders affirmed their determination to continue raising costs on Russia for its brutal attacks in Ukraine, as well as to continue supplying Ukraine with security assistance to defend itself,” the statement said.

In London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street office said “they agreed there could be no relaxation of Western resolve until the horror inflicted on Ukraine is over.”

Russia’s announcement of a shift away from Kyiv and Chernigiv came after talks with Ukraine, more than a month into the conflict that has left thousands dead and forced millions more to flee.

Johnson echoed Western skepticism.

“The prime minister underscored that we must judge Putin’s regime by their actions not their words,” the Downing Street statement said. “Putin is twisting the knife in the open wound of Ukraine in an attempt to force the country and its allies to capitulate.”

“The prime minister stressed to his fellow leaders that we should be unrelenting in our response,” the statement said.