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Added on the 07/12/2021 14:21:41 - Copyright : France 24 EN
A virtual summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Joe Biden begins, with Moscow's troop build-up on Ukraine's borders expected to dominate the talks. IMAGES
Ukraine's foreign minister welcomes a French initiative for a summit between US President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin, saying Kyiv hopes it would result in Moscow pulling back its troops. SOUNDBITE
US President Joe Biden says during his State of the Union address that Ukraine is capable of stopping Putin if the US provides Kyiv the "weapons it needs to defend itself." SOUNDBITE
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky warns European leaders that Russia's Vladimir Putin would exploit any failure to agree to launch his country's EU membership talks. "People in Europe won't see any benefit if Moscow receives a pass from Brussels in the form of negativity towards Ukraine. Putin will surely use this against you personally and against all of Europe," Zelensky tells an EU summit by videolink. SOUNDBITE ++ TEXT 347R2JH
A meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization kicks off in Brussels, with the US-led defence alliance's foreign ministers set to discuss NATO's ongoing backing for Ukraine against Russia amid doubts over US support and a bloody stalemate on the ground. There are fears that a lack of adequate support from the West -- at a time that it is distracted by the Israel-Hamas war -- could end up forcing Kyiv to seek a compromise with Russian President Vladimir Putin from a position of weakness. IMAGES
US President Joe Biden says that both Hamas militants attacking Israel and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in his invasion of Urkaine are seeking to "annihilate" neighboring democracies. "Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy," Biden says in a rare televised address from the Oval Office. SOUNDBITE