US ready to take diplomatic steps to resolve Ukraine crisis: State Dept.

The United States is willing to take diplomatic steps to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, a State Department spokesperson has said, as Kiev expresses its readiness to negotiate with Moscow.

The State Department spokesperson made the remarks on Saturday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the West should be more involved in negotiations to end the conflict with Russia, Reuters reported.

"If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian Government believes would be helpful, we're prepared to take them", the spokesperson said.

"We are working to put the Ukrainians in the strongest possible negotiating position, including by increasing pressure on Russia by imposing severe costs and by providing security assistance to help Ukrainians defend themselves."

The Biden administration has imposed harsh economic and banking sanctions on Russia in response to its military actions in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden said the sanctions would limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen.

Biden said on Friday he is working with the US Congress and other Group of Seven (G-7) nations to revoke the “most favored nation” trade status for Russia.

The US president claimed that the only other alternative to the sanctions would be to start a “Third World War.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.

He also warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.

Putin said his country is defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday his country was ready to negotiate to end the conflict started by Russia's military action more than two weeks ago, but would not surrender.

But then Kuleba said civilian lives would be saved if Ukraine had fighter jets and more attack planes to destroy large Russian military columns.

"We will continue to fight. We are ready to negotiate but we are not going to accept any ultimatums and surrender", Kuleba said.

This comes after Putin slammed the "flagrant violation" of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian forces, urging Kiev to force its nationalist battalions to stop their crimes.

He also accused the Ukrainian army of "extrajudicial executions of dissenters" and "taking hostages and using civilians as human shields."

The Russian president claimed the Ukrainian army was deploying heavy weapons near hospitals, schools, and kindergartens, adding that nationalist battalions were systematically disrupting operations to rescue the population at the same time, and had thwarted efforts to evacuate civilians via humanitarian corridors on several occasions.

Putin slams ‘flagrant violation’ of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian forces

President Putin has slammed the "flagrant violation" of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian force.

Meanwhile, the US State Department on Friday said that Americans in Ukraine face a very real risk of capture or death as it warned that Washington would not be able to facilitate evacuation.

"They may be subject to potential attempts at criminal prosecution and may be at heightened risk for mistreatment," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

Putin on February 24 ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Putin said his country was defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.

Biden, however, called the Russian action an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the mainstream American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two attack by Russia.

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