Biden hopes for Ukraine de-escalation in call with Putin
CNN
President Joe Biden is speaking Thursday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the hopes of defusing an unremitting crisis on Russia's border with Ukraine.
Putin requested the telephone call this week for reasons US officials said were not precisely clear. Biden and Putin last spoke on December 7 in a video conference that ended with a pledge to restart diplomatic discussions -- but no indication Russia was preparing to deescalate.
Since then, as many as 100,000 Russian troops have remained amassed at the Ukrainian border, despite warnings from Biden and European leaders of serious consequences should Putin move ahead with an invasion. US officials also say Moscow is engaged in a massive disinformation campaign meant to undermine Ukraine's government ahead of that country's national elections.
When prosecutors make their final pitch Tuesday to a New York jury for why they should convict Donald Trump of a slew of business crimes, they’ll face the burdensome task of weaving together weeks of testimony and evidence they say proves the former president committed felonies to help his 2016 campaign.