French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday proposed a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden, and the proposal was accepted in principle by both parties, the Elysee Palace said, according to AFP.
The statement said that Macron also proposed a Ukraine summit with all involved parties.
At the same time, the Elysee Palace also stressed that a Putin-Biden summit “can only be held if Russia does not invade Ukraine”.
The White House later confirmed that President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin if an invasion of Ukraine 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,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
The announcement came hours after the US cited intelligence reports saying that Russian military officers have already received orders to launch the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian commanders are now “doing everything that American commanders would do once they got the order to proceed,” said CBS News national security correspondent David Martin, who confirmed the veracity of the intelligence reports.
The Biden administration has yet to entirely despair of averting full-scale war, but hopes are not high.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s positioning of forces so close to the Ukrainian border indicated an impending incursion.
“He’s followed the script almost to the letter,” Blinken said. “We believe President Putin has made the decision, but until the tanks are actually rolling, and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade President Putin from carrying this forward,” he added.
Later on Sunday, the US embassy in Moscow warned Americans of potential attacks in public places in Russia, including along the border with Ukraine.
The embassy told Americans in Russia to "avoid crowds" and "have evacuation plans that do not rely on US government assistance".
At the same time, satellite imagery from US company Maxar revealed that there have been multiple new field deployments of armored equipment and troops in Russia near the border with Ukraine.
“This new activity represents a change in the pattern of the previously observed deployments of battle groups (tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery and support equipment),” Maxar said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
Biden told reporters last week that there are indications that Russia still intends to invade Ukraine, and announced at the time that he does not intend to talk to Putin.
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that evidence suggests Russia is planning "the biggest war in Europe since 1945".
"All the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun," Johnson told the BBC's Sophie Raworth.
Intelligence suggests Russia intends to launch an invasion that will encircle Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Johnson said.