As diplomatic efforts to end the crisis at Ukraine’s borders became more urgent, U.S. officials told CBS News that Putin had given orders to his troops to continue with their plans to invade.
According to a U.S. official, intelligence indicated that Russian commanders received orders to invade Ukraine. They were also planning how to maneuver on the battlefield. On Sunday, the White House stated that a Biden/Putin summit wouldn’t take place if Russia invades Ukraine.
Monday’s Kremlin statement stated that it was too early to discuss concrete plans for a summit. However, Putin confirmed that he was willing to meet Mr. Biden if both countries’ top diplomats can lay the foundations.
“The meeting can be held if the heads are of state agree. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said Monday that there was now a clear and concrete understanding of the necessity to continue the dialogue at ministerial level. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian counterpart to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is scheduled to meet on Thursday – if Russia does not launch an invasion.
“We are always available for diplomacy. In the event that Russia chooses war, we are ready to impose swiftly and severe consequences,” Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, said in a statement on Sunday. She added that Russia appeared to be preparing for a large-scale attack on Ukraine right now.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the possibility of a summit between U.S. leaders and Russian leaders. He spent Sunday talking to both presidents by phone.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, requested a meeting of the U.N. Security Council countries on Monday to discuss ways to deescalate the crisis and ensure the safety of his country.
Pamela Falk, CBS News correspondent at U.N. headquarters stated that Russia holds the rotating presidency in the Security Council and Moscow has the right to decide whether the meeting is held. If this happens, Falk was told by diplomats that Russia will likely try to block it.
Claims and denials
In the meantime, shelling has increased in eastern Ukraine along the lines of contact between Ukrainian forces, and Russian-backed separatists.
According to Ukrainian officials, the conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas has been simmering for nearly eight years and claimed approximately 14,000 lives. The conflict erupted a lot more than usual after warnings by U.S. officials that Russia could carry out “false flag” operations. These incidents were blamed on Ukrainian forces and could be used as a pretext for Moscow to invade.
According to The Associated Press, the Russian-backed rebels claimed Monday that four civilians were killed in Donbas’s territory over the past 24 hours.
Russian security officials claimed that a Ukrainian shell had hit a Russian border guard post, in Russia’s Rostov Region. Although there were no casualties in the alleged strike, there was another serious accusation.
Russia claimed that two vehicles transporting Ukrainian “saboteurs”, into Russia, had been destroyed and that five people who were violating the Russian border were killed.
This was Russia’s first claim that Ukrainians had crossed the border. The claim was quickly dismissed by the Ukrainian government which claimed that no Ukrainian forces were operating in Russia’s Rostov region border.
After being encouraged by separatist administrations, thousands of civilians of ethnic Russian descent from Ukraine’s rebel-occupied Donbas have crossed the border to Rostov in the past days.
According to the rebels, the need to evacuate women and children was due to purported Ukrainian bombardment and plans to attack the area.
Ukraine denies attacking rebel-held territory or firing shells into Russian territory. Instead, it claims that separatists were “cynically” firing from residential areas, using civilians as shields.
Since years, the policy of the Ukrainian military has been to not fire on the front lines unless there is an imminent danger to life.
