President Joe Biden is slated to deliver an āupdateā on the ongoing stand-off between Russia and Ukraine.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted, ā remarks will provide an update on events related to Ukraine, not announce new policy.ā
āHe will speak about the situation on the ground, the steps we have taken, the actions we are prepared to take, whatās at stake for the US and the world and how this may impact us at home,ā she added.
Bidenās remarks are scheduled to take place at 3:30 p.m. and come hours after Russiasaid it is pulling back some troops from near Ukraineās border now that their military exercises are complete. However, it said that other major military exercises are continuing.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance had not seen āany sign of deescalation on the ground.ā Still, he said there was cause for ācautious optimismā amid āsigns from Moscow that diplomacy should continue.ā
That comes after Russian state television showed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that āpossibilitiesā for diplomatic negotiations are āfar from exhausted.ā
āI would propose continuing and intensifying them,ā he added.
Putin responded, āGood.ā
Russia has amassed roughly 130,000 soldiers on Ukraineās border, sparking concerns that it is planning an invasion. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that an invasion could take place āany day now.ā
Additionally, on Monday, the U.S. temporarily relocated its embassy operations from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv, as IJR reported.
On Tuesday, Ukraineās Defense Ministry and at least two Ukrainian banks were hit with a cyber attack.
