A last-minute diplomacy by French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday gave some hope for a peaceful resolution over Ukraine as White House officials said President Biden would be willing to consider direct negotiations with his Russian counterpart as long as Russia does not invade Ukraine.
According to the White House, a possible summit between President Biden and Russian President Putin could only be held after meetings between the foreign ministers of the two nations, which are tentatively scheduled for later this week.
According to one of the senior White House officials, there were no plans for either the format or timing of a meeting between the two leaders. Another official called it completely notional and said that all evidence suggested Russia still wanted to invade Ukraine in the coming days.
But the possibility of another diplomatic motion, which came after Mr Macron spoke on the telephone with President Putin and then President Biden on Sunday morning, indicates that Mr Biden and America’s European friends are not giving up on convincing Mr Putin that the cost of an invasion was too high.
President Macron’s outreach to Russia came with the Sunday morning telephonic conversation with President Putin, during which two of the leaders have agreed to find a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing crisis and to save a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine in the coming hours, as per the statement of President Macron’s office.
The statement further added that, “If the conditions are met, a diplomatic path should be followed for a meeting at the topmost level in order to define a new peace and security order in Europe.”