The United States and its allies would react "rapidly and firmly" to Russian aggression, according to President Barack Obama's message to his Ukrainian counterpart.
Presidents Joe Biden of the United States and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine have reaffirmed their commitment to dialogue in order to defuse tensions, as the US national security advisor warned that Moscow was seeking for a "pretext" to launch an assault on the country.
It was said on Sunday that "President Biden made it plain that the United States will react promptly and strongly, in concert with its friends and partners, to any additional Russian action against Ukraine."
It was reported by Zelenskyy's office that the two presidents had discussed possible economic measures on Russia in the event that the country invaded its western neighbor.
At a previous press briefing, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that there has been a "dramatic acceleration" in the buildup of Russian troops over the last 10 days and that they "may start a military operation, virtually at any moment."
The possibility of a pretext or a false flag operation to kick off the Russian action, in which Russian intelligence services conduct some kind of attack on Ukrainian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine or on Russian citizens and then blame it on the Ukrainians, is also being closely monitored, according to Sullivan.
Despite the fact that Russia, which has gathered 100,000 soldiers on the Ukrainian border, has said that it does not intend to launch a military operation, it has requested that Ukraine be denied membership in the NATO military alliance. Russian President Vladimir Putin feels that NATO expansion in eastern Europe poses a danger to his country's security.
There has been no diplomatic breakthrough.
Biden was one of a number of world leaders that reached out to Zelenskyy to express their support. In a phone discussion with Zelenksyy on Sunday evening, Biden assured him that the United States remained committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
According to the presidential office, during the phone conversation, Zelenskyy offered Biden to visit Ukraine.
"I am certain that your appearance in Kyiv in the next days, which are critical for stabilizing the situation, will send a strong signal and help to de-escalation," Zelenskyy said in a statement released by the presidential office.
Natacha Butler, reporting from Kyiv for Al Jazeera, said Zelenskyy had been imploring people to remain calm despite the unrest in the Ukrainian capital.
"[He has been] telling people not to worry, even if it seems that something new is causing fear with each passing hour," Butler added.
While diplomatic attempts to avoid Russian action have so far failed to produce a breakthrough, the United States has issued warnings, which the Kremlin has labeled "peak hysteria."
In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be the latest Western leader to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is scheduled to arrive in Kyiv on Monday before traveling to Moscow on Tuesday, when he will issue threats of urgent penalties if Russia invades the country.
"He is expected to tell Zelenskyy that he is bringing all of the might of European countries to bear in the fight for Ukraine's sovereignty; this is a message he has sent several times before." "He's said that it is vitally critical that conflict be avoided," Butler said of the president.
Fears of an invasion are increasing.
Increasing concerns about a possible invasion have prompted OSCE personnel to begin withdrawing from Donetsk, a rebel-held Ukrainian city, amid growing anxiety over the possibility of an invasion.
Since 2014, when fighting erupted between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has supervised a civilian monitoring mission in the region.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned plans for the withdrawal of OSCE monitors from the country.
In a statement issued Sunday evening, ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said that the decision "must give us considerable anxiety."
"The mission is being purposefully lured into the military insanity stoked by the United States government and utilized as a weapon for potential provocation," says the report.
While everything is going on, Russian military exercises near Ukraine's border have been more intense in recent weeks.
Since the conclusion of the Cold War, the presence of Russian military on Belarusian land has been the greatest it has ever been. NATO views the war exercises as a significant danger, as well as a potential launching point for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the alliance.
In a broadcast from the Zyabrovka airport in Belarus, which is close the border with Ukraine, Step Vaessen of Al Jazeera remarked that "the south of Belarus seems to be a Russian military zone."
"There are a lot of doubts regarding the precise magnitude and the true aim of these exercises, which are taking place around 20 kilometers from the Ukrainian border," Vaessen said.
Russian military are undoubtedly more active thus close to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv than they have been since the conclusion of World War II, according to experts. However, for many in our country, it is difficult to imagine that war is coming."
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
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