WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden said this week that the United States will play a more direct role in diplomacy to address Vladimir Putin’s concerns over Ukraine and Europe, as part of a larger effort broad aimed at deterring the Russian leader from a destabilizing invasion of Ukraine.

But any negotiations aimed at peacefully resolving the tangled rivalries between East and West Europe will present minefields for the US president.

Administration officials have suggested that the United States will pressure Ukraine to formally cede a measure of autonomy to lands in eastern Ukraine now controlled by Russian-backed separatists who rose up against Kiev in 2014. An undefined “special status” for these regions was defined in an ambiguous peace accord negotiated by the Europeans in 2015, but it never took root.

Biden will also have to ignore Ukraine’s desire to join NATO. The United States and NATO reject Putin’s demands to ensure that Ukraine will not be admitted into the Western military alliance.

But senior State Department officials have told Ukraine it is unlikely that NATO membership will be approved in the next decade, according to a person familiar with those private talks who required l ‘anonymity.

For Biden, the challenge will be to encourage Kiev to come to terms with some of the facts on the ground in eastern Ukraine, without appearing to give in to Putin – a perception that could embolden the Russian leader and trigger a new line. condemnations from Republicans when Biden’s popularity is already waning.

We can ask Ukraine “can you take a step forward in these areas,” said Steven Pifer, former US ambassador to Ukraine. This could include measures such as allowing Russia’s ally Donbass region to control its own healthcare, police and schools, he said.

“But I don’t see Washington pushing the Ukrainians to take action that would compromise their sovereignty or the ability of the national government to make decisions,” Pifer said.

Biden made his US diplomacy offers in a two-hour online session with Putin on Tuesday. Biden proposed that the United States participate in negotiating efforts alongside the Europeans, not only to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but also to address Putin’s broader strategic objections to expanding the NATO membership and the strengthening of military capabilities ever closer to Russia’s borders.

Biden is due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

Ukraine, which enjoys deep cultural and historical ties with Russia, has sought closer integration with the West and membership in NATO in recent years. The alliance kept its promise to join but refused to set a timeline. Even before the current crisis, Ukraine was far from joining.

Since 2014, however, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and then supported armed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, the United States and other NATO members have helped Ukraine strengthen its defenses.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed during a White House briefing after Biden’s call with Putin that “there has only recently been a provision of defensive aid to Ukraine. , and it will continue ”.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Wednesday that the last pieces of the administration’s latest $ 60 million package of security assistance to Ukraine arrived this week and consisted mainly of small arms and light weapons and ammunition.

The call between Biden and Putin came as tensions grew over the threat of Russian forces once again flocking to Ukraine. Putin denies such an intention and accuses that it is NATO that is strengthening its hold over the former Soviet republics that threatens Russia.

US intelligence reports last week said Russia has moved 70,000 troops to Ukraine’s borders as it prepares for a possible invasion early next year.

If Russia were to invade, the Biden administration has made it clear that the country will face the toughest US sanctions to date.

After speaking with Zelenskyy, Biden plans to brief the leaders of nine NATO members in Eastern Europe, including three former Soviet republics. This is part of the weeks of coordination with NATO allies on the response to the Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border.

Before and after his call with Putin, Biden spoke to leaders in Britain, France, Germany and Italy. France and Germany have taken the initiative to negotiate the 2015 peace agreement between Ukraine and the Russian-backed rebels, in what is called the Norman format.

“We hope that by Friday we can tell you, tell you that we have meetings at a higher level,” Biden said on Wednesday. “Not just with us, but with at least four of our main NATO allies and Russia.”

The meetings would address “the future of Russia’s concerns about NATO as a whole, and whether or not we could find accommodations regarding the drop in temperature” in eastern Ukraine, “a Biden said.

Asked about the need for Ukrainian compromises, Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that “Ukrainians have presented constructive ideas on how to move diplomacy forward. We encourage that.

As part of the 2015 agreement, Ukraine agreed to amend its constitution to take into account the “peculiarities” of the two separatist Donbass republics and to legalize their “special status”. Some analysts have said that the vagueness of the agreement and some conflicting requirements make its provisions inapplicable.

Ukraine is ready to start talks on the definition of a “special status”, including possible changes that take into account the cultural and linguistic differences of its eastern Donbass region, which has a higher proportion of native Russian speakers, the person familiar with the private talks between Ukraine and the United States said.

But Ukraine would reject any changes that gave the region virtual veto power over national politics, the person said.

Alexander Vershbow, former US ambassador to Moscow, said a revival of earlier negotiating efforts between French, German, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats could be a step forward, especially if the US gets involved. directly.

In an interview ahead of the Biden-Putin video meeting, Vershbow said another option would be to recreate the US-Russian talks channel used during the Obama administration alongside those talks.

“It must be very much in tune with the Ukrainians – not behind their backs, nor forcing them to agree to an unpleasant compromise,” Vershbow said.

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Associated Press editors Robert Burns and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this story.