Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a desperate plea to the US President to visit Kiev as tensions between Russia and Ukraine reach boiling point. Mr Zelensky said in a statement to Mr Biden: “I am convinced that your arrival in Kiev in the coming days, which are crucial for destablising the situation, will be a powerful signal and contribute to de-escalation.”
But during a press briefing, Mr Biden’s deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, announced a visit to Ukraine was not in the president’s schedule.
She said: “I don’t have any travel plans to announce or preview at this time.
“We don’t have travel to confirm right now.
“That is what the president’s schedule looks like and it’s certainly not confirming to go to visit Ukraine.”
Tensions between Moscow and Kiev have reached boiling point over recent months.
In September, President Zelenskiy warned an all-out war with Russia could be a “possibility”.
Since 2014, more than 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
This week, concerns of a war between Moscow and Kiev were raised after Russian units left their assembly areas.
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US officials believe Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine this week, though there remains some hope that a diplomatic solution could be reached.
Russia has surrounded Ukraine on three sides, with more than 100,000 troops amassed at the border, but has always denied that an invasion is planned.
Dr Paul Flenley, who is a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Portsmouth and an expert in Russian foreign policy, told Express.co.uk that the consequences of any invasion would be “enormous”.
He said: “I think the Russian population has not been prepared for an invasion of Ukraine and the consequences.
“Psychologically, the consequences would be enormous.
“It wouldn’t fit well with the whole rhetoric of Ukrainians as our brothers, and they should be part of a wider association.
“An invasion of Ukraine and taking Kiev would just be a disaster for all that ideology that Putin has.”
After World War 2, the western part of Ukraine merged with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, making the whole country a part of the Soviet Union.
It regained its independence in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Many Russians, including Mr Putin and other figures within the Kremlin, still consider Ukraine a part of Russia.