EU, Ukraine to introduce trade pact despite Russian threats

During their joint briefing Monday, Biden also said the USA “stands firmly with the people of Ukraine” in the face of “continued aggression” by Russian Federation and Russia-backed separatists.

Biden will get an update on clashes between government troops and pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden addresses the Ukrainian parliament behind a poster of jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko in Kiev on December 8. “Let me be crystal clear – the United States does not, will not, never will recognise Russia’s attempt to annex the Crimea”, said Biden.

That deal set off Ukraine’s political crisis in November 2013, when former president Viktor Yanukovich rejected it, igniting months of protests that eventually drove him from power.

Following the power lines’ sabotage, pro-Ukrainian activists – including many ethnic Tartars who opposed Crimea’s annexation – prevented repairs by blocking access for engineers to pylons in Kherson, a southern region of the Ukrainian mainland.

Yet Biden arrives in a country whose morale is sagging due to Poroshenko’s seeming inability to erase the corruption that has ravaged Ukraine for much of its recent history.

His words drew several rounds of applause, including a standing ovation, during a 37-minute speech in which Biden talked about how the United States would support Ukraine as long as it stayed on the democratic path. Nevertheless, the implementation of most reform plans has still not begun.

Both the USA and European Union have slapped stiff financial sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s internal circle and have helped practice and equip Ukraine’s dilapidated and underfunded military with defensive gear corresponding to superior radar.

“It is absolutely critical for Ukraine to root out the cancer of corruption…”

The loss of power to Crimea – causing widespread blackouts – highlighted the peninsula’s reliance on electricity from Ukraine.

Ukraine, which is able to supply a total of 850 megawatts to Crimea, is supplying up to 160 megawatts to the peninsula, the ministry said in a statement. In this regard, it is also expected he will reassure Ukrainian leaders that any USA communication with Russian Federation over Syria’s situation will not impact its position concerning Ukraine.

It also documented “enforced disappearance, arbitrary and incommunicado detention as well as torture and ill treatment of people” suspected of joining or supporting separatist militia, and noted the “high degree of impunity” enjoyed by elements of Ukraine’s security services in such cases.