By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – U.S. President Joe Biden, and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart will address the nation on Saturday. This comes as Western nations warn that a civil war in Ukraine can ignite anytime.

A White House official stated that Putin asked for the phone call to be held on Monday between leaders, however Biden desired to have it sooner because Washington was giving increasingly detailed accounts about a potential attack against Ukraine.

Australia and New Zealand on Saturday joined the countries urging their citizens to leave https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-says-russia-masses-more-troops-near-ukraine-invasion-could-come-any-time-2022-02-11 Ukraine, after Washington said a Russian invasion, including a possible air assault, could occur anytime.

Moscow has repeatedly challenged Washington’s story, claiming that it has deployed over 100,000 troops close to the Ukrainian border in order to defend itself from NATO-aligned aggression.

Putin is vying for power in post-Cold War Europe. He seeks Biden’s security guarantees to stop Kyiv from joining NATO and missile installations near Russia’s borders.

Washington considers many of these proposals non-starters, but Washington has encouraged the Kremlin and its European allies to talk about them together.

Biden still believes that one on one engagement with Putin could be the best option for a solution. He will call the weekend phone conference from Camp David in Maryland.

Although there were no breakthroughs between Putin and Biden in their December calls, they set the scene for diplomatic relations between their aides. Both leaders have not spoken in over a year and diplomats from all sides have been unable to reach common ground. The four-way Berlin talks on Thursday between Russia and Ukraine as well as Germany, France, Germany, and France did not make progress.

Russian news agency TASS reports that Putin will also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron this Saturday.

GATHERING FORCES

U.S. intelligence thinks a quick assault on Kyiv possible, and that Putin could order an invasion before the Winter Olympics finish on February 20, according to Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor for Biden. He added that it is unclear if such a command was given.

They had enough troops close to the border to invade the country, and they might launch an air strike. Australia, the United States and Britain have all warned citizens in Ukraine to flee.

Sullivan stated that the risk was now sufficiently high and the threat of imminent danger is sufficient.

Russia’s Deputy U.N. Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Ambassador of Russia accused Washington’s infuriating “hysteria,” and launching a “panic attack.”

Officials from Ukraine have attempted to discredit Washington’s view that an invasion was imminent.

Reuters was told by four U.S. official that Washington had plans to send 3,000 additional troops to Poland (the western neighbor of Ukraine) in the coming days. This is to reassure NATO allies. These troops are available to be deployed to Europe with the additional 8,500 soldiers already in reserve.

Meanwhile, Russian forces assembled in Ukraine’s north, southeast, and eastern regions. In the meantime, six Russian warships reached Black Sea while more Russian military hardware arrived in Belarus. Commercial satellite images https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/satellite-images-show-new-russian-military-deployments-near-ukraine-2022-02-11 from a U.S. firm showed new Russian military deployments at several sites near the border.

Biden discussed the crisis in Britain with leaders from France, Germany and Poland, along with those of NATO and EU. Antony Blinken (U.S. Secretary) also spoke to Dmytro Kunleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister.

Blinken declared that Ukraine has his full support after Friday’s call.

Washington was also concerned that Russia, China and China had been cooperating at all levels. A senior official from the administration stated on Saturday that the two countries were trying to “undermine us.”

According to a Beijing official, a partnership agreement shows that Moscow and Beijing are “fundamental aligned” and that Beijing views Moscow’s actions regarding Ukraine as legitimate.