Ukraine: Pressure Mounts On Biden, But Will US Fight Russia?

The United States government is obviously going to face new pressure from European countries in the coming weeks even as the conflict in Ukraine between Russian military and the country’s forces enter its fourth week since it began on February 24.

The conflict, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, OCHA, has resulted in over 726 civilian deaths including that of an American journalist Brent Renaud who was killed in the shelling in the Ukrainian city of Irpin; 52 children have also been killed in the war zone.

Despite the development, the US President Joe Biden has maintained that he will not deploy soldiers into Ukraine.

But Biden’s decision will be tested on Thursday because he is billed to visit Europe (Poland) for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO emergency summit bordering on the Russian invasion.

Since the war began, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris have visited Poland to express support for the Ukrainians.

At the forthcoming NATO summit, Ukraine’s neighbour, Poland will formally request for the deployment of NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine – comprising of different military forces with a sizable number of world powers like US, France and Germany.

But the US ambassador to UN, Thomas-Greenfield, told CNN on Sunday that her principal does not want direct confrontation with Russian forces in Ukraine, adding that the US will only fight if a NATO country is attacked by Russia.

“The President has been very clear that we will not put American troops on the ground in Ukraine. We don’t want to escalate this into a war with the United States. But we will support our NATO allies. We have troops, as you know, in NATO countries, and the President has made clear that if there is an attack on any of our NATO countries, under Article V, that we will support those countries and defend those countries.”

Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to UN , Zhang Jun, has a different position about the conflict.

He put the blame on the US, asking Biden to address Russia’s concerns and embrace dialogue between the two parties instead of supplying military equipment to Ukraine.

“Behind the Ukraine crisis is the issue of European security. It is our hope that the United States, the European Union and NATO can sit down with Russia for in-depth and comprehensive dialogues and explore ways to put in place a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism based on the principle of indivisible security, so as to achieve lasting peace and stability in Europe,” he said at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.

The country’s foreign ministry had also put out challenging questions to Western media about US’ unlikelihood of going to war with Russia.

“Did you forget that the US was among the first to evacuate civilians and diplomatic personnel from Ukraine? Have you ever imagined that the US would never send a single soldier to fight and die for Ukraine? You are associated with a media outlet from Europe. Did you ever think about why has Europe become a battlefield and a wrestling ground of major-country rivalry? Why has Ukraine become a pawn to be sacrificed in major-country rivalry? Why doesn’t the US reflect on its hypocritical move of watching the fire from across the river after fanning the flames?,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated on Friday implying that the US just wants to boost its economic edge over its competitors.

But the US ambassador Thomas-Greenfield claimed that China’s position about Russia is back and forth because “they’re in an uncomfortable position” due to the economic crisis brewing based on the war in Ukraine, sanctions and counter sanctions.

However, the US knows the place of China in global economy hence its recent diplomatic interaction with Beijing as well as a pledge by both countries to keep communication lines open.

Still in the push to weaken Russia, Biden spoke to China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday urging him not to support Russia militarily or economically, citing “consequences”.

For Russia, its representatives insisted that the US must remove all its military installations including biological weapons from Ukraine and other European countries.

Regarding the sanctions, the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin waved them aside, insisting that he will do business with countries that have the largest single population, like China and India.