Biden, Putin to talk next week as tensions grow over Ukraine

By DASHA LITVINOVA, AAMER MADHANI and COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak in a video call Tuesday. Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have escalated over a Russian troop buildup on the Ukrainian border that’s seen as a sign of a potential invasion. Russia adamant that the U.S. guarantee Ukraine won’t be admitted to the NATO military alliance. U.S. intelligence officials, meanwhile, have determined that Russia has massed about 70,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as soon as early next year. That’s according to a Biden administration official who wasn’t authorized to discuss that intelligence finding publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.