Washington—US President Joe Biden will hold a secure call with allies and partners on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) to discuss “developments” in Russia’s attack on Ukraine and “coordinate our united response,” the White House said.
The administration did not elaborate on who would participate in the call, which will take place at 11:15 am (1615 GMT).
Russia has become an international pariah as its forces do battle on the streets of Ukraine’s cities and is facing a barrage of sanctions including a ban from Western airspace and key financial networks.
Earlier Sunday, the G7 threatened fresh sanctions as top US diplomat Antony Blinken said the group of wealthy nations was “fully aligned” against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Also on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered that Russia’s nuclear “deterrence forces” be put on high alert, prompting an immediate international outcry, with the United States slamming the order as “totally unacceptable.”
Biden’s call with allies will come as the UN General Assembly debates a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
Meanwhile, Belarus said Monday that it had prepared the venue that will host talks between delegations from Ukraine and Russia, as Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine went into its fifth day.
Ukraine has agreed to send a delegation to meet Russian representatives in neighbouring Belarus, a key Kremlin ally that has allowed Russian troops passage to attack Ukraine.
“The venue for talks between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus has been prepared, the arrival of delegations is expected,” the Belarusian foreign ministry said on social media, releasing a picture of a long table with Russian and Ukrainian flags.
Separately, Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said: “The talks will start as soon as all the delegations arrive at the meeting point.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, sending shockwaves around the world.
Kyiv was initially reluctant to send a delegation to Belarus, given the country’s role as facilitator in Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Ukraine has vowed not to give ground at the talks, which come as its forces fiercely resist the Russian offensive and a day after President
Vladimir Putin ordered his defence chiefs to put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert.
The fighting in Ukraine has claimed dozens of civilian lives including children.
Kyiv insisted there were no pre-conditions to the talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was sceptical about the prospect of talks in Belarus.
“As always: I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try,” he said.
In a related development, pro-Russia groups are orchestrating misinformation campaigns on social media, using fake profiles or hacked accounts to paint Ukraine as a feeble pawn of Western duplicity, Meta said Sunday.
The cyber security team at the tech giant—parent of Facebook and Instagram—said it blocked a set of Russia-linked fake accounts that were part of a social media scheme to undermine Ukraine.
“They ran websites posing as independent news entities and created fake personas across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and also Russian Odnoklassniki and VK,” Meta said in a blog post.
In some cases, “they used profile pictures that we believe were likely generated using artificial intelligence techniques.”
The small network of Facebook and Instagram accounts targeted people in Ukraine, using posts to try to get people to visit websites featuring bogus news about the country’s effort to defend itself from the invasion by Russia.
Meta said it connected the network to people in Russia and Ukraine, as well as media organizations NewsFront and SouthFront in Crimea.
The US has identified NewsFront and SouthFront as disinformation outlets that get marching orders from Russian intelligence services.
The organizations were among more than a dozen entities sanctioned by Washington for trying to influence the 2020 US presidential election “at the direction of the leadership of the Russian Government.”