Biden, Putin square off as tension grows on Ukraine border

By AAMER MADHANI and DASHA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Face to face for over two hours, President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have squared off in a secure video call focused on Ukraine. In the highly anticipated call on Tuesday, the U.S. president put Moscow on notice that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to sanctions and enormous harm to the Russian economy. With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukraine border, the highly anticipated call between the two leaders came amid growing worries by the U.S. and Western allies about Russia’s threat to its neighbor. Putin argued that the U.S. and other NATO countries are to blame for the crisis by trying to expand the organization’s “presence” on Ukrainian territory.