The United States "is committed to continuing diplomacy until such time as an invasion begins," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Above all, she announced in this text that US President Joe Biden had accepted the principle of meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a summit, as proposed by Emmanuel Macron, provided that Russia had not invaded the Ukraine by then.
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“President Biden has agreed in principle to a meeting with President Putin (…) if an invasion has not taken place,” she continued.
“We are also prepared to inflict swift and severe consequences if Russia chooses war instead,” Jen Psaki added, “and currently Russia appears to be continuing its preparations for a full-scale attack on Ukraine very soon. ".
The same day, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine spoke again by telephone for nearly 1 hour 45 minutes.
At the end of this exchange, the two heads of state agreed to do everything to quickly reach a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, announced the Elysee.
The order to invade Ukraine?
The United States would have information according to which the order was sent to the Russian commands to carry out an invasion of Ukraine, also affirmed Sunday several American media, citing anonymous sources in the field of intelligence.
It was this information that would have prompted President Biden on Friday to say he was "convinced" that Putin had decided to attack Ukraine, assures the Washington Post, attributing this information to anonymous sources without direct quotation.
Asked by AFP, the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department have not confirmed or denied this information, also relayed by other American media.
