Joe Biden has been visiting Brussels and talking about Ukraine. Our news desk has this report:
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has said Ukraine is battling for its "very survival" in the face of escalating Russian involvement in the conflict between government forces and separatists in the country's east.
Speaking on February 6 alongside European Council chief Donald Tusk in Brussels, Biden said "Russia continues to escalate the conflict by sending mercenaries and tanks."
Russia "cannot be allowed to redraw the map of Europe," he added. "This is a moment where the United States and Europe must stand together, stand firm," he said.
In Kyiv on February 5, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "Russia's continued aggression in the east" is the gravest threat facing Ukraine today.
He also said U.S. President Barack Obama will decide soon whether to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons to fight the separatists.
The comments came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande pressed forward with a new peace plan to end the Ukraine crisis.
(AFP, Reuters)