France pushes for Biden-Putin meeting on Ukraine

Russia reversed its plans to end military drills in Belarus near Ukraine’s northern borders on Sunday. The Russian military now has 30,000 troops in Belarus, just three hours’ drive from Kyiv, with 150,000 more soldiers stationed along Russia’s border with Ukraine. President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday that he fully believes Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to give the order to invade. Fighting has heated up in eastern Ukraine, between the military and Russian-backed separatists.  Rebel leaders have sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the disputed territories.

Is a diplomatic solution possible? At the behest of French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said on Sunday that Biden agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Putin as long as he holds off on launching an assault on Ukraine. In the meantime, Ukraine and some U.S. lawmakers are urging Western allies to hit Russia preemptively with economic sanctions.

Dig deeper: Read Jill Nelson’s report on U.S. missionaries deciding whether to stay in Ukraine as an invasion looms.