Russia has backed-off from a threat made last week to reinforce troops along its border with Ukraine ahead of a potential military offensive by pro-Russia separatists.
President Joe Biden on Saturday promised "the United States' unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" after a call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"We stand shoulder to shoulder when it comes to preservation of our democracies," tweeted Zelensky after the call.
The Biden-Zelensky conversation came after the U.S. and NATO voiced alarm over Russian troop movements near the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
Russia on Monday said it had opened high-level contacts with the U.S. to defuse dangerous tensions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists are massing against Ukrainian Army forces. It also dismissed news of a military build-up of troops belonging to the Russian Army and the Armed Forces of Belarus intended to support a new separatist offensive.
"We are in contact with the Americans, this is happening at a high level," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who said Ukraine failed to implement a July 2020 ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, which is the 29th since the conflict began in 2014.
"If our American colleagues were concerned about this, it would really help stabilize the situation," said Ryabkov.
The U.S. has supported Ukraine with funds and weapons as part of dispute that began when Russia backed a move by separatists to annex the Crimea region on the Black Sea into the Russian Federation in 2014.
