Biden to convene National Security Council regarding Ukraine on Sunday

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden will convene a National Security Council meeting Sunday regarding the situation in Ukraine, according to the White House.

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Biden is being updated regularly about events on the ground by his national security team.

The US president also received an update regarding Vice President Kamala Harris' talks during the Munich Security Conference.

She met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, as well as the leaders of Germany, Greece and Baltic states’ leaders.

Tensions rose dramatically in eastern Ukraine this week, with a growing number of cease-fire violations, multiple shelling incidents and evacuation of civilians from the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Moscow, according to Ukrainian officials, recently amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukrainian borders, prompting fears that the Kremlin could be planning a military offensive against its neighbor.

Russia has denied that it is preparing to invade and accused Western countries of undermining its security through NATO's expansion toward its borders.

Russia also issued a list of security demands to the West, including a rollback of troop deployments from some ex-Soviet states and guarantees that some of those states would not join NATO.