US President Joe Biden and Russian partner Vladimir Putin agree to hold a new summit on Ukraine

US President Joe Biden and Russian partner Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle to a summit over Ukraine, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron says if Russia doesn’t attack its neighbor, offering a potential way out of quite possibly the riskiest European emergencies in a decade.

In what appeared to be a last-ditch diplomatic trick facilitated by French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said US President Joe Biden has agreed to a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as long as he holds off on launching an attack that US authorities caution shows up progressively almost certain.

In a statement released early on Monday, the Elysee Palace said Mr. Macron had pitched the two leaders on a summit over “security and strategic stability in Europe”.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the organization has been certain that “we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins”.

“Presidents Biden and Putin have both accepted the principle of such a summit,” the statement said, before adding that such a meeting would be impossible assuming Russia attacked Ukraine as Western countries fear it plans to.

The White House put out an announcement in a matter of seconds a short time later affirming the news.

The US is “committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins,” press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin … if an invasion hasn’t happened.”

“We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon,” she added.

The declaration – released after a volley of phone calls between Mr. Macron and leaders on the two sides of the Atlantic – comes following a week of increased strains prodded by Russia’s military build-up up and down the Ukrainian border.

Nerves were additionally frayed after the Belarusian defence ministry declared Russia would broaden military drills in Belarus that were because of end on Sunday. Satellite pictures seemed to show new deployments of Russian armor and troops near Ukraine.

The White House said Mr. Biden was cancelling a trip to Delaware and staying in Washington following a two-hour meeting of his National Security Council.

US-based satellite imagery organization Maxar revealed different new deployments of Russian military units in forests, farms, and industrial areas just 15 km from the boundary with Ukraine – something Maxar said represented a change from what had been in recent weeks.

“Until recently, most of the deployments had been seen primarily positioned at or near existing military garrisons and training areas,” the company said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN “everything we are seeing suggests that this is dead serious,” adding the West was similarly ready assuming Moscow attacks.

“Until the tanks are actually rolling, and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade President Putin from carrying this forward.”

Washington and other Western capitals say that Russia has massed more than 150,000 soldiers on Ukraine’s borders and is prepared to launch a full-scale attack. Moscow denies any expectation to attack its neighbor, however has demanded that the Nato partnership for all time preclude Ukraine’s offered for membership and required the withdrawal of Western forces deployed in eastern Europe since the finish of the Cold War.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it was the ideal opportunity for the West to execute to some extent part of the approvals it has arranged.

The Biden organization has up until this point wouldn’t do as such, saying their obstruction impact would be lost if they were utilized too early.