President Biden on Monday held a video call with European leaders to discuss joint efforts to deter further aggression by the Kremlin against Kyiv, amid a massive buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine\u2019s border that has raised fears of a renewed invasion.<\/p>\n
The leaders \u2014 including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top NATO and European Union officials \u2014 spoke of their \u201cshared desire for a diplomatic resolution to the current tensions,\u201d according to a White House readout of the call.<\/p>\n
They also discussed preparations to impose \u201cmassive consequences and severe economic costs\u201d on Russia, as well as moves to reinforce security on NATO\u2019s eastern flank. The Western military alliance said Monday it was moving more military equipment into Eastern Europe, sending additional ships and fighter jets, just as the Biden administration put 8,500 troops on heightened alert for potential deployment to Europe.<\/p>\n
They also discussed preparations to impose \u201cmassive consequences and severe economic costs\u201d on Russia, as well as moves to reinforce security on NATO\u2019s eastern flank. The Western military alliance said Monday it was moving more military equipment into Eastern Europe, sending additional ships and fighter jets, just as the Biden administration put 8,500 troops on heightened alert for potential deployment to Europe.<\/p>\n
Cyber Partisans said it would return the network to \u201cnormal mode\u201d if 50 political prisoners in need of medical care were released, and Russian troops were barred from Belarus. As of Monday evening, parts of the Belarusian Railway website were down, showing an error message that \u201cthe site is temporarily unavailable, come back later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Canadian officials said Monday that hackers had launched a cyber attack on the country\u2019s foreign ministry last week, around the time Ottawa\u2019s cyber defense agency was warning of Russian-backed threats. Canada is a NATO member and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been vocal in his opposition to Russia\u2019s massing of forces on the Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n
The Treasury Board Secretariat, which is responsible for Canadian government operations, didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Russian actors were responsible.<\/p>\n
\u201cCritical services for Canadians through Global Affairs Canada are currently functioning. Some access to Internet and internet-based services are not currently available as part of the mitigation measures and work is underway to restore them,\u201d the Treasury Board said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Amid the escalating tensions, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) requested the Biden administration brief members of the upper chamber on the Russia-Ukraine situation, a person familiar with the matter said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has also requested a similar all-member bipartisan briefing.<\/p>\n
Even as the administration seeks a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine crisis, the United States and some Western allies have begun to take the kind of dramatic steps typically reserved for the eve of anticipated armed action.<\/p>\n
Britain pulled some diplomats and their families out of Ukraine on Monday, a day after the United States ordered families of diplomats to leave Kyiv and authorized the departures of nonessential embassy staff.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the ITV network, British leader Johnson said intelligence indicates Russia is planning a \u201clightning raid\u201d on Kyiv, as he warned the Kremlin that an incursion would be \u201ca disastrous step\u201d that could lead to a lengthy conflict with casualties on both sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Biden on Monday held a video call with European leaders to discuss joint efforts to deter further aggression by the Kremlin against Kyiv, amid a massive buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine\u2019s border that has raised fears of a renewed invasion. The leaders \u2014 including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2223,1116,3212,456,444],"class_list":{"0":"post-240637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-diplomacy","9":"tag-nato","10":"tag-russian","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-us"},"yoast_head":"\n