WASHINGTON/KYIV (REUTERS) – US President Joe Biden used a first official phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday (April 2) to offer staunch support in Ukraine’s standoff over Russian troops near its border.

Washington has been Ukraine’s most powerful ally since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, but ties were overshadowed by Ukraine’s unwilling involvement in events leading to the impeachment trial of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.