Al-Arabiya correspondent reported, on Sunday evening, that US President Joe Biden met with his security team in the secret room of the White House on Ukraine, while the US Embassy in Moscow warned of the threat of attacks on sites in Russian cities and areas on the borders of Ukraine.
And the White House announced in a statement that US President Joe Biden held a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the latest developments related to Russian military reinforcements on the borders of Ukraine.
The White House Twitter account posted a photo of the meeting, in the presence of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
President Biden also called his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to discuss the Ukraine crisis.
The White House said US President Joe Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday amid Western concerns that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies.
Macron had earlier spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in a separate call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In addition, the Al-Arabiya correspondent, quoting a White House official, stated that Biden had modified his plans and decided to stay in Washington, following he was scheduled to leave Washington to spend two days in Delaware.
The White House said President Biden will not travel to Wilmington, Delaware, to follow up on a family matter, and will instead remain in Washington.
“The president had a family matter and was calling for him to fly to Wilmington, Delaware tonight, but he’s not going and will stay in Washington, DC,” a White House official said.
Prior to that, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, announced President Biden’s readiness to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “at any time and in any format, in order to prevent war.”
“Everything that is happening on the ground in Ukraine, including the announcement of the extension of military exercises by Russia and Belarus, indicates that the world is on the brink of a Russian-Ukrainian invasion,” Blinken said.
“The United States is committed to the last minute to use every opportunity to see if diplomacy can dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from moving forward with the implementation of an operation,” Blinken said in statements he made to a program on CNN, reported by Archyde.com. invasion”.
And the US Secretary of State expressed his understanding of the demands of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to apply “sanctions” once morest the Russian side, stressing that “as soon as the sanctions are activated, the deterrent effect will be over,” as he described it.
Blinken said the United States and its allies had built what he described as a “huge package” of sanctions once morest Russia in the event it “invaded Ukraine.”
Blinken stressed that the United States will do everything it can to avoid escalation over Ukraine.
Blinken had echoed the same statements yesterday, Saturday, that US President Joe Biden is ready to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin if Washington finds that such a meeting serves the success of diplomatic efforts.
“President Biden is always ready to meet, if we find it useful for diplomacy and peace,” Blinken said in an exclusive interview with the Russian online TV channel “Dogd”, which is classified in Russia as a “foreign agent”, Saturday.
The US Secretary of State confirmed that it is planned to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov “in Europe” on February 24, adding that he wrote in his reply letter to Lavrov that the holding of their meeting “requires that Russia does not attack Ukraine during this time.”
Russian invasion imminent
The White House announced that US President Joe Biden will hold a meeting of the National Security Council, today, Sunday, to discuss the Ukraine crisis. The White House renewed its warning that Russia might launch an attack on Ukraine At any time, while Ukraine demanded increased Western support following warnings of an imminent Russian invasion, the Ukrainian president also suggested meeting with his Russian counterpart to find out “what he wants.”
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that Biden was briefed on talks at the Munich Security Conference between Western leaders on the Ukraine crisis, adding that his national security advisers “reiterated that Russia might launch an attack on Ukraine at any time.”
For his part, the representative of the European Union’s foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said on Sunday: “We do not want an alternative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but we want a unified military force.”
He added: “We must increase our support for Ukraine in the short term, and lay the foundations for a stronger defense policy in Europe. The European Union must have a clear understanding of the challenges it will face in the short and medium term, and must be able to mobilize armies when necessary.”
For nearly three months, Washington has been sounding the alarm regarding what it considers to be preparations to launch a Russian attack on Ukraine.
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he will hold a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on February 24 to discuss the Ukraine crisis.
Blinken added that he told Lavrov that holding the meeting is conditional on not invading Ukraine during this time, pointing to The possibility of Biden meeting President Putin if that serves the dialogue.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed, on Saturday, that his country constitutes a “shield” of Europe in the face of Russia and deserves more support, calling for a timetable for its accession to NATO in light of fears of a Russian invasion that Washington says is imminent, while Moscow demonstrated its strength through Nuclear missile testing.
In his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky condemned what he described as a “policy of appeasement” pursued by the Europeans towards Moscow.
“For eight years, Ukraine has been a shield. For eight years, Ukraine has been repelling an army that is among the largest in the world,” said the president, who went to Munich despite the intensity of the bombing in the east of his country and the killing of two Ukrainian soldiers.
He also demanded “clear and practical timetables” for Ukraine’s entry into the Atlantic, something Moscow considers a red line for its security.
Zelensky suggested meeting with Vladimir Putin to find out “what the Russian president wants.”
This comes as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a German channel, on Saturday, that: All indications from Russia indicate that Moscow is preparing for an all-out attack on UkraineEchoing US warnings of an imminent invasion.
In the same statement, Stoltenberg stressed that everyone agrees that the risks of a Russian attack on Ukraine are very high.
For his part, a diplomatic source said that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe recorded nearly two thousand violations in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.
The Donbass region in southeastern Ukraine is witnessing an acceleration of events.
And the separatist intelligence claimed that it had obtained the plan of the offensive operation by the Ukrainian army once morest the republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.
The main attack will be from the city of Kara-Tursk, located in the northern part of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, then extending to the city of Dibba Latsif, then Alchevsk, and Yena Kivu within three days, and then to the Russian border in two days.
Another offensive will be carried out by the Ukrainian army from the village of Shiro Kino towards Azov, a Russian town located in Rostov-on-Don, 16 kilometers from the Sea of Azov.
And a naval attack from the border city of Novo-Izovsk on the southeastern tip of Ukraine, so that this attack will be carried out in order to reach Ilo Visk and Olya Novsk within two days.
The last attack will be from the city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine near the border with Russia towards Alchevsk, with the possibility of reaching Krasnye Licha.
As part of these offensive operations, military and civilian facilities in the republics of Lugansk and Donetsk, at a depth of 10 to 15 kilometers, will be destroyed with strong strikes by artillery, aircraft, helicopters and drones.
Ukraine considered these accusations absurd, and denied any plans to use force in the east of the country.
While fears of a military escalation on the ground in Ukraine increase following a sudden movement in the east of the country, pro-Russian separatists continue to evacuate civilians on buses towards Russia.