At the Pentagon on Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III convened high army and civilian officers, together with Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Tod D. Wolters, the pinnacle of the army’s European Command, to debate the Russian troop buildup. Officials mentioned that there was an effort underway to ship extra defensive weapons, together with anti-tank Javelins, to Ukraine, however that they might be pre-positioned exterior the nation to keep away from giving Mr. Putin a pretext for army motion.
Later on Monday, General Milley met nearly along with his NATO army counterparts to debate the disaster. Mr. Biden was additionally calling Mr. Zelensky forward of the assembly, and he spoke with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Mr. Zelensky on Monday and “reiterated the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression,” a State Department spokesman, Ned Price, mentioned in an announcement.
John F. Kirby, the chief Pentagon spokesman, declined to say whether or not the United States nonetheless had a small variety of army advisers in Ukraine or whether or not the administration had determined to ship extra army help to Ukraine.
But Mr. Kirby mentioned the administration was centered on resolving the disaster via diplomatic measures.
“We don’t believe conflict is inevitable here,” he informed reporters.
But different officers mentioned they had been already seeing heightened cyberaction, and a few officers recalled that Russia reduce off the electrical energy to 2 elements of Ukraine in previous years — and most probably had the potential for additional disruptions now.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken, who traveled to a NATO assembly final week, have been working to persuade European nations, beginning with Germany, {that a} clear warning to Mr. Putin is required. The effort is to current Mr. Putin with a united entrance, and persuade him that the sanctions he would undergo could be broadly enforced.