President Joe Biden hailed the bravery of the Ukrainian people on Friday and vowed to keep helping them in a phone call with charismatic President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“As I do every time we speak, I told him the United States stands with the people of Ukraine as they bravely fight to defend their country,” Biden said.
“And they are doing that,” Biden added.
The White House said the call focused on the U.S. effort to ramp up aid and to help Ukraine military hold off the Russia attack.
“Biden highlighted how the United States is continuing to surge security, humanitarian and economic assistance to Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden also updated Zelenskyy on the new trade sanctions against Russia that were announced, including revoking so-called “most favored nation” status and banning imports of “signature” products like Russian vodka, diamonds and seafood.
Zelenskyy has won worldwide plaudits for his courageous leadership amid the invasion. He has refused offers to be evacuated to safety outside Ukraine, saying he prefers to stay and fight alongside his people.
Although Biden and Zelenskyy have spoken regularly since the crisis erupted, the Ukrainian leader has recently started to call on the West to provide more direct military assistance.
The Ukraine military badly wants to be given fighter jets from Poland that they say could help them prevent Russia’s brutal aerial bombardment campaign.
But the U.S. is seeking a way to allow Ukraine to use the jets without the direct involvement of U.S. or NATO bases, which could be seen as a major escalation by the Kremlin.
Biden stressed, as he has many times, that American forces will not fight Russia in Ukraine, saying that any such intervention would amount to “starting World War III.”
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