US president Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin agreed to a proposal by France's Emanuel Macron to hold a US-Russia summit on Ukraine, the French Elysee Palace and the White House said.
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News of the potential summit came as satellite images show multiple new field deployments of armored equipment and troops from Russian garrisons near the border with Ukraine, a private US company said on Sunday, in what its director said indicated increased military readiness.
Both Biden and Putin, whom Macron spoke to in separate phone calls on Sunday, have "each accepted the principle of such a summit," the Elysee said in a statement early Monday. "[The summit] can only be held if Russia does not invade Ukraine," it added.
Washington confirmed it is "committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. "President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin... if an invasion hasn't happened."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are also scheduled to meet on Thursday. The Elysee said the content of the proposed US-Russia summit will be planned by Blinken and Lavrov.
Early on Monday, the White House said Biden would participate in a virtual G7 leaders' meeting held on February 24 to discuss the situation regarding Russia and Ukraine.
On Sunday evening, Macron and Putin agreed to intensify the search for solutions to the Ukraine standoff during a nearly two-hour phone call.
The pair agreed on "the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis and to do everything to achieve one," Macron's office said, adding that both countries' foreign ministers would meet "in the coming days."
According to the Kremlin's version of the call, Putin blamed Kyiv for a military escalation in eastern Ukraine and agreed on the need to "intensify efforts to find solutions through diplomatic means."
Moscow said the talks would take place in the Normandy format, meaning with representatives of Russia and Ukraine under Franco-German moderation.
Macron then called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just a day after Kyiv said it would not respond to what it called Russia's "provocations," according to the Elysee, and remained open to "dialogue" with Moscow.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Russia cautioned Americans on Sunday to have evacuation plans, citing the threat of attacks in Moscow and along the Russian border with Ukraine, drawing a rebuke from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"There have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine," the embassy said.
"Review your personal security plans," the embassy said. "Have evacuation plans that do not rely on US government assistance."
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, questioned if the United States had passed on the information about possible attacks to Russia. "And if not, how is one to understand all of this?" Zakharova said.
Also on Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen disclosed some details of the sanctions Moscow would face if it invaded Ukraine, saying Russia would be cut off from international financial markets and denied access to major export goods.
Western leaders have until now refused to be drawn on the details of the responses they have agreed on if Russia invaded, only ruling out a military response and promising economic sanctions that would be unprecedented in scale.
"Russia would in principle be cut off from the international financial markets," Von der Leyen told ARD public television late on Sunday evening. Sanctions would be imposed on "all goods we make that Russia urgently needs to modernize and diversify its economy, where we are globally dominant and they have no replacement," she said.
She said sanctions would not be imposed until after any invasion, rejecting calls on Saturday by Zelenskiy for immediate sanctions.
"The move to sanctions is so enormous and consequential that we know we must always give Russia a chance to return to diplomacy and the negotiating table," she said. "This window is still open."
But Von der Leyen, who heads the 27-member European Union's executive, said Russia's reliance on fossil fuel exports was its weakness.
Acknowledging "the real possibility of war," US Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up a weekend of outreach to European allies with a push to bolster the West's resolve in confronting Moscow with crippling sanctions as increasingly dire signs suggest Russia's Vladimir Putin plans to order an invasion of Ukraine.
In a burst of diplomacy at the annual Munich Security Conference, Harris tried to make the case to American allies that rapidly escalating tensions on the Ukraine-Russian border meant European security was under "direct threat" and there should be unified support for economic penalties if the Kremlin invades its neighbor.
"We're talking about the potential for war in Europe. I mean, let's really take a moment to understand the significance of what we're talking about," Harris told reporters before her return to Washington on Sunday evening. Europe, she said, might be at its most perilous moment since the end of World War II.
"It's been over 70 years, and through those 70 years ... there has been peace and security," she said. "We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe."
Harris told reporters that a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and subsequent sanctions, would likely have costs for Americans, as well.
"When America stands for principles, and all of the things that we hold dear, it requires sometimes for us to put ourselves out there in a way that maybe we will incur some cost," Harris said. "In this situation, that may relate to energy costs."
The vice president's appearance in Munich was largely overshadowed by Biden's declaration from the White House late Friday that he was "convinced" that Putin had decided to invade. And her message of unity in Europe in the face of Russian aggression was overtaken by Zelenskyy. Soon after meeting with Harris on Saturday, he used his appearance at the conference to question why the US and Europe were waiting to impose sanctions against Russia.
"What are you waiting for?" Zelenskyy asked of Western leaders. He said the sanctions that targeted Russia after Ukraine's economy collapses and "parts of our country will be occupied" would provide little comfort.
Harris said she wouldn't "second guess" Zelenskyy's "desires for his country" and she stood by the US decision to hold off on preemptive sanctions. "The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence," she said.
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