Biden urges Ukraine president to avoid escalating tensions with Russia: White House

Reuters
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a memorial service for three slain Baton Rouge police officers at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke by phone on Friday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and urged him "to do his part" to avoid escalating tensions with Russia, the White House said. Biden noted that the United States has urged the Russian side to do the same, the White House said in a statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of trying to provoke a conflict over Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed in 2014. (Reporting by Eric Beech)