The two sides are set to square off on one of the world’s most high-profile diplomatic stages.
The United Nations Security Council, the organization’s most powerful body, is meeting Monday at the request of the U.S. to discuss tensions over Ukraine for the first time. Any formal action against Moscow appears unlikely, given Russia’s veto power and its ties with other powerful council members, including China.
Ahead of the meeting, the American ambassador to the U.N. said she will press Russia on its military buildup near Ukraine.
“The Security Council is unified, our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“We’re going into the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda,” she added.
Moscow has already called the U.S. move to call the meeting a “PR stunt.”
Both sides are keeping diplomatic efforts alive, however, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov due to hold a phone call on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Sunday that Russia must pull back its troops from Ukraine’s borders if it’s serious about not wanting a war.
“Diplomacy is the only responsible way,” he said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Russia conducted more military drills on Monday after a flurry of exercises throughout the country last week, with the country’s Northern Fleet vessels engaged in anti-submarine drills in the Norwegian Sea, the Russian defense ministry said on its website.
