The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will recognize the independence of two regions in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin said that Putin talked to the leaders of France and Germany on Monday. In the near future, Putin is expected to sign a formal decree.
According to the Kremlin readout, the two leaders indicated their willingness to continue the talks.
Hours after Putin convened a broadcasted national security meeting, the announcement to recognize the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic came.
The independence of the two enclaves where Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels have been engaged in a long-running armed standoff was discussed during the meeting.
The U.S. and European allies have warned that Putin's recognition of the rebel regions could lead to a Russian invasion.
President Biden has warned Putin that the U.S. and its allies are willing to impose swift and severe costs on Russia.President Biden accepted a meeting with Putin on the condition that Russia does not invade Ukraine.
The summit would happen after a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary. The meeting is later this week.
The National Security Council was convened by Biden on Monday to discuss the security situation on the borders of Ukraine.
White House officials told NBC News that the U.S. has talked to the Ukrainian government about moving Zelenskyy if the Russians advance.
The people familiar with the plans said that Zelenskyy would move to Lviv, a city that is 50 miles from the Polish border.
The meeting in the White House's Situation Room on Monday is in response to recent warnings from the U.S. and European allies. In the coming days, Biden said Putin would attack Ukraine.
Even as Russia has deployed nearly half of its military to the borders of Ukraine, the Biden administration has refused to predict Putin's plan. The annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea by Russia triggered international uproar and led to sanctions against Moscow.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that Russian troops are preparing for an invasion.
Biden's top diplomat said Sunday that there is still time for Putin to choose diplomacy.
We are going to try everything we can to get President Putin to reverse his decision, until the tanks are rolling and the planes are in the air.
He said there was still an option for him to pull back.
T-72B3 Main Battle Tanks of Russian Army take part in a military drill in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 14, 2022.Last week, in a dramatic appearance at the United Nations, Blinken shared a grim assessment of what Russian forces could do to Ukraine if the Kremlin suddenly launched an attack.
Russian missiles and bombs will be dropped across Ukraine. Ukrainian institutions will be shut down by cyberattacks. Russian tanks and soldiers will advance on key targets that have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans after that.
Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that Russia's troop build up was unlike anything he had seen before.
The Russians have deployed air forces, naval forces, special forces, cyber electronic warfare, command and control, logistics engineers and other capabilities along the Ukrainian border.
The ground maneuver forces, the air forces, the missiles, and the other forces are all packaged together. Milley said on January 28 that it would result in a significant amount of casualties if that was unleashed on Ukraine.
It would be terrible, he said.
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