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An attempt – perhaps the last? – to turn the tide in Ukraine is marked by an agreement in principle that seems to be the culmination of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden, as suggested by their counterpart. Of France Emanuel Macron, with the inviolable, of course, condition that there has been no Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory by then.
The surprise announcement came amid reports from the United States that Russian military commanders had already received orders to attack Ukraine.
The Elysee was pleased to announce in a press release that an enlarged meeting would follow, with the participation of “all parties” involved in the Ukrainian crisis, and that “security and strategic stability in Europe” would be on the table.
< p>But the summit “can only take place if Russia has not invaded Ukraine” in the meantime, the French presidency said.
President Biden agreed in principle to meet with President Putin “unless “The United States has pledged to continue its diplomacy until the invasion begins,” said Jen, a spokeswoman for the US presidency. Άκι.
Otherwise, “we are ready to achieve rapid and heavy costs,” Psaki warned.
So far, there has been no comment from the Kremlin.
The agenda of the summit The two countries' foreign ministers, Anthony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov, will prepare for their meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 24, Elize clarified.
Tense weekend
The French presidency's announcement came as Russia and Ukraine exchanged accusations of hostilities in Donbass between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists on Sunday.
Emanuel Macron denounced this diplomatic success after two talks on the same day with Vladimir Putin yesterday Sunday.
The second took place in the evening, after the head of the French state had meanwhile spoken with his American counterpart Joe Biden, acting as a mediator between the two enemies of the Cold War.
The development took place while Washington warned in An increasingly high tone that the Russian invasion was imminent, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying yesterday that Moscow was one step ahead of the invasion. US intelligence
CNNi and the Washington Post reported over the weekend that the United States had information showing that Russian military commanders had been ordered to attack Ukraine, with 75% of the Russian tactical forces stationed in Ukraine. p>
Information on orders to military commanders and intelligence officials is one of the many indicators under the US “microscope” to assess whether Russian preparations have entered the final stages of a possible invasion./p>
Other indications, such as the launch of electronic countermeasures and widespread cyber-attacks, have not yet been seen, according to sources cited by CNNi. on the border with Ukraine.
Sunday's photos show “strike forces” – tanks, armored personnel carriers, guns, equipment and support personnel – crossing snow-covered areas.
Westerners fear the escalation of fighting on the line for days front in eastern Ukraine will be used as a pretext by Russia, which has mobilized some 150,000 troops near the border, to launch an invasion.
Ceasefire?
Vladimir Putin attributes the spark of violence to the “Ukrainian provocations.” Pro-Russian separatists are evacuating civilians being transported to Russia, and have declared a general mobilization of men capable of carrying weapons.
Following the evacuation order, some 53,000 people – out of the three million living in Donbas, as eastern Ukraine is known – fled to Russian territory, according to the Russian government, which has declared a state of emergency in the Russian region of Kursk.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the “challenges” of the Moscow-backed rebels and called for the resumption of negotiations under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the implementation of ” Immediately “new ceasefire.
Officials of the separatists in the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk today spoke of two civilians killed in artillery shelling by the Ukrainian army, a fact that can not be confirmed by independent sources. Russian and French Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Jean-Yves Le Drian are expected to meet today, according to Moscow.
An emergency OSCE meeting on Ukraine is also scheduled for today.
Russia denies any intention of invading Ukraine. It demands guarantees for its security, in particular the withdrawal of NATO forces from Eastern Europe, but a claim rejected by the West.
The crisis around Ukraine since the end of 2021 has caused the tensions that Europe has experienced since the end of the Cold War.
Source: cnn.gr
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US has information that an attack on Ukraine has been ordered
