Ukraine president Zelenskiy thanks Biden for military aid – live

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s team had seen the US response to Russia’s demands before it was delivered to the Kremlin yesterday.

“No objections on the Ukrainian side,” Kuleba said in a tweet earlier today. “Important that the U.S. remains in close contact with Ukraine before and after all contacts with Russia. No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine. Golden rule.”

Joe Biden and Zelenskiy likely discussed the US response during their phone call this afternoon as well. In its response, the White House made clear it still supports Ukraine’s right to pursue Nato membership.

The Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin and Julian Borger report:

Russia has said it is willing to continue talks with the US over European security, but is not optimistic about their prospects after Washington and Nato allies again rejected a key part of Russia’s proposed new order for post-cold war security.

On Thursday, Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said “there isn’t much reason to be optimistic” after the US and Nato rejected Moscow’s demands for a veto on Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato in a co-ordinated response the day before.

Moscow needed time to analyse the US document and would not “rush into assessments”, Peskov added.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow’s main concern – the potential for Ukraine to join Nato – had not been addressed, but there was hope “for the start of a serious conversation on secondary issues”.

“There is no positive response in this document on the main issue,” he said.

One of Lavrov’s spokespeople appeared to rule out war with Ukraine, in comments that led to a jump in the value of the Russian rouble, as investors gained confidence that conflict could be avoided.

Joe Biden met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Washington today to discuss the diplomatic efforts to avoid a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The two discussed joint efforts, including through Nato and the OSCE, to address Russia’s destabilizing military buildup along Ukraine’s borders,” the White House said in its readout of the meeting.

“They also discussed enhancing the US-Norway partnership in tackling a range of challenges, including climate change, ending the Covid-19 pandemic and establishing sustainable health security financing, and humanitarian support for Afghanistan. President Biden thanked the Prime Minister for Norway’s leadership as president of the UN security council this month.”

Biden was also expected to speak to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, this afternoon, but the White House has not yet released any readout from that conversation.

Senator Joe Manchin said today that he would feel comfortable supporting a supreme court nominee who may be more liberal than he is.

In an interview with West Virginia MetroNews’s Hoppy Kercheval, Manchin said he takes the process of considering a supreme court nominee very seriously and looked forward to meeting the person chosen by Joe Biden.

“It’s not too hard to get more liberal than me. So, it would not bother me having a person who was sound in their thought process, had been sound in their disbursement of justice and the rule of law, just because their personal beliefs [are different than mine],” Manchin said.

“As far as just the philosophical beliefs, no, that will not prohibit me from supporting somebody.”

Because of the 50-50 split in the Senate, Biden’s supreme court nominee will need the support of every Democratic member to get confirmed (assuming all Republicans oppose confirmation), so Manchin’s vote is crucial.

Jen Psaki also criticized some Republicans who are already attacking Joe Biden’s supreme court nominee as “radical”, even though they do not yet know who the nominee will be.

“As you heard the president say directly, he’s going to work in good faith with senators of both parties,” the White House press secretary said at her daily briefing.

But Psaki added that it was important to be clear about some of the “games” Republicans are already playing as Biden begins the search for a nominee to replace Stephen Breyer on the supreme court.

“We have not mentioned a single name. We have not put out a list. The president made it very clear he has not made a selection,” Psaki said.

“If anyone is saying they plan to characterize whoever he nominates, after thorough consideration with both parties, as radical before they know literally anything about who she is, they just obliterated their own credibility.”

Psaki reiterated that Biden is committed to consulting with members of both parties to ensure his nominee is “worthy of the excellence and decency of Breyer’s legacy”.

Russia remains open but ‘not optimistic’ over Ukraine talks

The White House has said it will have a read out later this afternoon after US President Joe Biden is expected to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The call is being described by the White House as a ‘check in’ rather than about a specific announcement.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Rankin in Brussels and Julian Borger in Washington DC have the latest news wrap on the diplomacy.

They report: ‘Russia has said it is willing to continue talks with the US over European security, but is not optimistic about their prospects after Washington and Nato allies again rejected a key part of Russia’s proposed new order for post-cold war security.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks as Russia massed more than 100,000 soldiers and heavy weapons at its border with Ukraine, raising fears of an invasion.

On Thursday, Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said “there isn’t much reason to be optimistic” after the US and Nato rejected Moscow’s demands for a veto on Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato in a co-ordinated response the day before.’

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow’s main concern – the potential for Ukraine to join Nato – had not been addressed, but there was hope “for the start of a serious conversation on secondary issues”.’