Russia and Belarus said joint military drills wouldn’t end on Sunday as planned and that Russian forces would remain in Belarus indefinitely. The news raised alarm in the Baltics as well as about what Russia’s next steps may be.
President Joe Biden convened a National Security Council meeting that discussed the latest developments on Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders. Monitors along the line dividing Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists reported that cease-fire violations surged at the end of last week.
The U.S. has told allies that any Russian invasion could target multiple cities beyond the capital Kyiv, according to people familiar with the matter. Russia has repeatedly denied it plans an invasion of Ukraine, calling such claims propaganda and “hysteria.”
Biden held a meeting of the National Security Council on Sunday to “discuss the latest developments regarding Russia’s military buildup on the borders of Ukraine,” according to a White House statement that provided no specifics.
