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President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to “the principle” to meet for a summit discussing “security and strategic stability in Europe,” but will only take place if Russia does not invade Ukraine.
The summit will be discussed by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their meeting on Thursday.
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President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin
(Getty Images)
The potential summit was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, and a press release states that the summit “can only be held at the condition that Russia does not invade Ukraine.”
The announcement comes just hours after Fox News confirmed that Russian commanders have been given orders to carry out an invasion of Ukraine.
Biden spoke with Macron on Sunday afternoon.
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A Ukrainian soldiers passes by houses in the village of Novoluhanske, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine have ordered a full military mobilization amid growing fears in the West that Russia is planning to invade the neighboring country. The announcement on Saturday came amid a spike in violence along the line of contact between Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russia rebels in recent days.
(AP Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak)
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that while President Biden and Putin have accepted the meeting “in principle,” Russia continues to indicate they are making preparations for “a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.
“President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin following that engagement, again, if an invasion hasn’t happened. We are always ready for diplomacy. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon,” Psaki said.
She added that President Biden is committed to pursuing diplomacy “until the moment an invasion begins.”
“As the President has repeatedly made clear, we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins. Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Lavrov are scheduled to meet later this week in Europe, provided Russia does not proceed with military action,” Psaki said.
Commanders on the ground have made plans for how they would maneuver in their sectors of the battlefield.
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A serviceman takes his position in a trench at the line of separation near Yasne village, about 33,6 km (21,2 miles) south-west of Donetsk, controlled by Russia-backed separatists, eastern Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 14, 2022.
(AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
According to the Ukrainian military, violence continues to escalate in eastern Ukraine as it reports 53 shellings by Russian-backed forces from occupied Donbas on Ukraine occurred today.
