Leaders of Western nations continued to press for a diplomatic solution on Tuesday as the crisis over Ukraine escalated, with thousands of American soldiers now on “high alert” for possible deployment to Eastern Europe and NATO dispatching additional ships and fighter jets to the region to reassure anxious allies fearful of Russian aggression.
President Biden held a video conference call with European leaders on Monday, hoping send a clear signal to the Kremlin that Western nations were united and the costs of any military aggression would be severe.
The leaders discussed “preparations to impose massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia for such actions as well as to reinforce security on NATO’s eastern flank,” according to a White House readout of the 80-minute call.
“I had a very, very, very good meeting — total unanimity with all the European leaders,” Mr. Biden told reporters afterward.
European Union foreign ministers issued a statement repeating their call for Russia to de-escalate tensions, in advance of a scheduled meeting in Paris this week between the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
The mobilization — both military and diplomatic — by Western countries comes in response to what they say is a buildup of Russian forces larger than any seen since the end of the Cold War. Ukraine’s military intelligence service calculates that 127,000 Russian troops are massed near its borders, and thousands more are expected to arrive next month in neighboring Belarus, along with tanks, artillery and fighter planes.
Moscow has described the deployment to Belarus as a military exercise, but Western leaders worry it could be a pretext for an incursion into Ukraine.
John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said that the 8,500 U.S. soldiers placed on “high alert” would provide assurance to American allies in Eastern Europe who are fearful that Russia’s plans for Ukraine could extend to the Baltics and other countries in NATO’s so-called eastern flank.
“It’s very clear the Russians have no intention right now of de-escalating,” Mr. Kirby told a news conference on Monday. “What this is about, though, is reassurance to our NATO allies.”
The crisis in Ukraine has sparked deep unease in the region because of Moscow’s demands that NATO withdraw from much of Eastern Europe — essentially calling for a return to the Cold War order, before Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin agreed in 1997 that former Soviet states and Warsaw bloc nations could choose whether to seek membership in NATO.
Since then, the alliance has roughly doubled in size.
The Biden administration has said that Russian demand is a non-starter. But there may be a potential areas for compromise on other matters. Washington has said it will respond to issues raised by the Kremlin in a written statement likely to be delivered this week.
For its part, Russia has said it has no intention of invading Ukraine and has blamed the West for stoking tensions.
However, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has said little publicly on the crisis in recent weeks and his intentions remain a mystery. The Russian leader has been incensed for years by NATO expansion and his brinkmanship around Ukraine has seized Washington’s attention.
Despite the looming threat and the failure of weeks of high-level diplomatic talks to defuse the crisis, the Ukrainian government has sought to project a sense of calm. President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking after a meeting of government officials on Monday, said “the situation is under control” and told the public “there is no reason to panic.”
