US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have agreed to hold a summit. (File)
Kyiv:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to a summit to be held only if Moscow does not invade Ukraine, France announced Monday after a frenetic new round of diplomacy to avert all-out war.
Both leaders have said yes in principle to the summit, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron, his office said, with the White House confirming Biden’s readiness, albeit being particularly cautious.
A senior government official told AFP: “Timing has yet to be determined. Format has yet to be determined, so it’s all completely fictitious.”
The Elysee added that the summit will be extended to “relevant stakeholders” and that preparations between Russia and the United States would begin on Thursday.
The potential breakthrough came after Washington warned of an imminent invasion and Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for a spike in shelling at the frontline separating Kiev’s forces from Moscow-backed separatists.
The bombing has forced Ukrainians to flee to cellars and other shelters, while some civilians have been evacuated.
In its own statement, the White House warned it was still ready to “impose rapid and dire consequences” should Russia invade.
“And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a large-scale attack on Ukraine very soon,” US press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Washington and other western capitals say Russia has gathered more than 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders and is ready to launch a full-scale attack.
Moscow has denied any intention to invade its neighbor but has demanded that the NATO alliance permanently exclude Ukraine’s membership attempt and calls for the withdrawal of Western troops deployed in Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War.
Macron-Putin calls
The summit announcement came just after Macron made his second marathon call with Putin of the day.
During their first 105-minute conversation, Putin blamed the increase in violence on the frontline, according to a Kremlin statement.
Putin reiterated an appeal to “the United States and NATO to take Russia’s demands for security guarantees seriously”.
But Macron’s office also said the two agreed on “the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis and do everything possible to achieve one”.
The second time the couple spoke, late Sunday evening, lasted an hour, the French presidency said. Shortly afterwards came the announcement of the summit.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia was “about” to invade Ukraine.
US media quoted anonymous sources as saying Washington received information last week showing that the Kremlin ordered troops to attack. The White House, the Pentagon and the State Department have not confirmed the reports at the request of AFP.
Satellite images from a US company also showed new Russian troop deployments along the border.
Macron also spoke with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for an immediate ceasefire and resumption of talks.
“We are in for an intensification of the peace process,” Zelensky tweeted, adding that he had informed Macron of “new provocative shelling” on the frontline between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels.
That volatile frontline has seen a “dramatic increase” in ceasefire violations, observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have said.
Hundreds of artillery and mortar attacks have been reported in recent days, in a conflict that has dragged on for eight years and cost more than 14,000 lives.
‘Firing again’
AFP reporters heard more bombing last night near the front lines between government forces and the Moscow-backed rebels who control parts of the eastern districts of Lugansk and Donetsk.
In Zolote, a frontline village in the Lugansk region, an AFP reporter found residents hiding in a crudely furnished basement on Earth when the separatist conflict erupted in 2014.
“These weeks they have started firing harder. Now they are firing again,” said 33-year-old handyman Oleksiy Kovalenko.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Moscow warned Americans about possible attacks in public places in Russia.
Screws are tightened
Previously, fears of escalation mounted after Belarus announced that Russian troops would remain on its territory after Sunday’s scheduled end of joint exercises, further tightening the screws on Ukraine.
Moscow had previously said that the 30,000 troops it has in Belarus were conducting readiness exercises with its ally, which should be ready by Sunday so the Russians could return to their bases.
But Belarus said it had agreed with Russia to “continue inspections”, citing increased military activity on their common borders and an alleged “escalation” in eastern Ukraine.
occupied enclave
The Moscow-backed separatists have accused Ukraine of planning an offensive in their enclave, despite the massive Russian military build-up on the border.
Kiev and western capitals scoff at this idea, accusing Moscow of attempting to provoke Ukraine and of conspiring to fabricate incidents to provide a pretext for Russian intervention.
The rebel regions have made similar claims about the Ukrainian armed forces and have ordered a general mobilization, evacuating civilians to neighboring Russian territory.
“My husband told me: take the children and go!” Nurse Anna Tikhonova, 31, told AFP from a camp in Vesselo-Voznessenka, Russia.
She and her children had fled Gorlovka, Ukraine, to the sound of gunfire, she said.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
