Russia on Monday said that shelling near eastern Ukraine’s rebel held regions destroyed Russian border facility, news agency AFP reported. The statement came from the Kremlin as Russian president Vladimir Putin holds an emergency meeting of the Kremlin’s Security Council.
The Kremlin also dismissed hopes of an early summit between Russian president Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that assuming that a summit will be held soon is a ‘premature’ assessment, news agency AFP reported. Peskov also said that at the current stage dialogue should go on between foreign ministers alluding to the upcoming meeting between US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
“It’s premature to talk about any specific plans for organising any kind of summits. There is an understanding that dialogue should be continued at the level of foreign ministers. If necessary, of course, the Russian and American presidents can decide to hold a telephone call or connect via other methods. A meeting is possible if the heads of state consider it appropriate,” Peskov was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
Tensions are slated to rise with Putin’s sudden announcement to conduct an emergency meeting of the security council. The Americans have warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is only a matter of time and could happen anytime soon.
The Russians have maintained that this is untrue and said it has no such intentions. The denial comes despite Russia taking further steps to bolster its military presence across Ukraine’s borders. It even walked back on its promise to ally Belarus by continuing its military drills. Belarus last week said that following the completion of drills no Russian soldier will remain but now that possibility seems unlikely.
These announcements from the Kremlin will dash hopes of a diplomatic outcome. Ukraine was also hopeful that a Biden-Putin summit would help ease tensions. “We hope that the two presidents will walk out from the room with an agreement about Russia withdrawing its forces from Ukraine,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying by news agency AFP before a meeting with his European Union (EU) counterparts.
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