U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday said it remains to be seen whether Russia follows through with any actions to scale down its military operations in Ukraine, saying Washington and its allies will continue with strong sanctions and aid for Ukraine.
"We'll see if they follow through with what they're suggesting" as Moscow-Kyiv negotiations continue, he told reporters at the White House following his meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. "We're going to continue to keep a close eye on what's going on."
In the interim, Biden said the US and its allies would continue to enforce the sweeping sanctions they have imposed on Russia in retaliation for its war on Ukraine and would maintain ongoing military aid to reinforce the Ukrainian military.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia said it will significantly decrease its military activities in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase trust for future negotiations.
The country's deputy defense minister said following peace talks in Istanbul that Moscow would "radically decrease" its military offensives on the cities to create the "conditions for holding talks further, and achieving the final goal of agreeing and signing a peace treaty."
The announcement falls short of a nationwide humanitarian cease-fire called for by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday. But Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia's delegation to the Istanbul talks, said a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents could be held when a draft of a peace treaty is ready and approved.
