The world needs these two to come to an agreement.
According to the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Biden and Russian President Vladimir have agreed to a “summit of Ukraine” under certain conditions.
After the statements by Macron, financial markets edged higher spurred by renewed hope that the Russia-Ukraine crisis could be resolved diplomatically, despite satellite images showing Russia deployments moving closer to Ukraineʼs borders, and shelling heard close to an area where Ukrainian government forces are fighting pro-Russia separatists.
But a statement by the office of the French President revealed he had suggested a summit on “security and strategic stability in Europe” to both leaders.
According to a statement by the White House, Biden accepted the meeting “in principle,” with the one condition being “an invasion hasn’t happened.”
Reiterating previous comments, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that the U.S. was “always ready for diplomacy,” but added that — similarly — the U.S. was “ready to impose swift and severe consequences, should Russia instead choose war.”
Very few details of the proposed summit — announced after several calls between Macron, Biden, Putin, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and British Prime Minister Borris Johnson — exist.
Yet the White House and Macronʼs office confirmed more details would be outlined by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they held their next meeting on Thursday (Feb. 24).
This may be a last-ditch attempt by allies to achieve a diplomatic resolution to the Russia-Ukraine tensions, considering recent remarks by Biden that he believed Putin had already made up his mind about a potential invasion and Vice President Kamala Harris saying the door for diplomatic resolution was narrowing.
According to a report by Newsmax, a Biden administration official had revealed that the summit was “completely notional,” considering substantive details like time and format had yet to be determined.
