Exclusive-U.S. envoy to U.N. cancels Liberia trip to focus on Russia

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield address the media after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation between Russia and Ukraine, at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., January 31, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, canceled a planned visit to Liberia this week to focus instead on U.N. diplomacy over Russia's troop build-up near Ukraine, the U.S mission to the United Nations said.

The White House decided to keep Thomas-Greenfield in New York after President Joe Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday. Biden told Putin the West would respond decisively to any invasion.