Biden agrees 'in principle' to summit with Putin if Russia doesn't invade Ukraine, White House

Talks would be brokered by France
Ukraine

President Biden has agreed "in principle" summit talks with Russ President Vladimir Putin if Russia does stops its invasion into Ukraine, the White House said late Sunday. 

The talks will reportedly be brokered by France. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said such a meeting would take Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet Thursday.

She also said the U.S. is prepared to talk "until the moment an invasion begins."

Putin has in the past weeks increasingly amassed military equipment and tens of thousand of troops around neighboring Ukraine as a show of force in opposition to attempts at closer alliances between Western nations and Ukraine and other former Soviet bloc countries. 

"We are always ready for diplomacy," Psaki. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon," Psaki also said in the White House statement.