Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said that Russia had ignored formal requests for information about the buildup of troops.
He stated that the next stage would be to request a meeting within the next 48 hours for transparency on Russia’s intentions.
Despite the presence of some 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, Russia has denied any intentions to invade Ukraine.
However, many Western countries have warned that Russia is preparing for war, with the United States stating that Moscow may start with air strikes “at any time.”
More than a dozen world countries have urged their nationals to depart Ukraine, and some have even removed embassy staff.
According to three sources cited by CBS News, the United States is readying to evacuate all of its personnel from Kiev within the next 48 hours.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Saturday that his country had requested answers from Russia under the Vienna Document, an agreement regulating security issues established by members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes Russia.
The Russian ambassador, on the other hand, stated that “if Russia is serious about the indivisibility of security in the OSCE area, it must live up to its promise to provide military transparency in order to de-escalate tensions and improve security for all.”
However, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who condemned the “panic” that might result from such statements, has yet to see any evidence that Russia is preparing an invasion in the next few days.
He spoke to US President Joe Biden on Sunday for nearly an hour by phone. The White House said that the US President reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Ukraine, and both leaders agreed on the “importance to maintain a policy of negotiations and deterrence.”
At the conclusion of his call, Poroshenko said that Zelensky had thanked the US for its “unwavering support” and invited him to visit Ukraine. There has been no reaction from the White House to the invitation.
The day before, an hour-long conversation between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin proved fruitless.
Prior efforts by western allies to make clear that one of Russia’s main demands, that Ukraine should never be allowed to join the Nato military alliance, is non-negotiable have been fruitless; the door must remain open to new members, they have said.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, has expressed his nation’s willingness to give up its bid to join Nato in order to avoid a war.
“We may – especially since we’ve been threatened, blackmailed, and forced to it,” he added.
However, a government source from the United Kingdom stated that it was “premature” to assess if the remark were a genuine concession that could persuade Vladimir Putin to change his position.
Chancellor Scholz is set to meet with President Zelensky in Kyiv and President Putin in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday, as part of his efforts to find a peaceful solution.
The German chancellor, who succeeded Angela Merkel as head of Germany in December, has warned of severe economic consequences for Russia if it were to invade. Following remarks by other Western nations and members of the Nato military alliance, he echoed their concerns.
Officials in Berlin have dismissed any hopes of a breakthrough.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to convene new European diplomatic negotiations in order to “bring Russia back from the brink of war.”
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan predicted that an invasion might begin “any day now” in Washington.
“Mr Sullivan said the US is closely monitoring for a potential ‘false flag’ operation by Moscow as a pretext for a full-scale invasion so it can claim it is responding to Ukrainian aggression.”
Russia claims that its buildup of troops on the Ukraine border is a domestic matter. On Sunday, Yuri Ushakov, a top Russian foreign policy official, dismissed the US warnings of an attack as “hysteria has reached its peak.”