President Joe Biden on Monday held a secure video call with European leaders to discuss the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, as the U.S. and NATO prepare military options after diplomatic channels have failed to produce de-escalation.

Ahead of the call, the Department of Defense announced that at President Biden's discretion, the U.S. has placed 8,500 troops on "heightened alert" for possible deployment to eastern Europe to aid a NATO response force "or if other situations develop."

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden on Monday held a secure video call with European leaders to discuss the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine

  • The Department of Defense announced that the U.S. has placed 8,500 troops on "heightened alert" to be able to deploy to eastern Europe and aid a possible NATO response force

  • Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby emphasized that "no decisions have been made to deploy any forces from the United States at this time"

  • Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border and has shown no recent sign of backing down or de-escalating its military buildup, though Russian leaders deny they’re planning an invasion

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby emphasized that "no decisions have been made to deploy any forces from the United States at this time."

The call with European leaders was added to the president’s schedule late Monday morning, hours after NATO announced it would step up its military presence in eastern Europe by putting forces on standby and adding ships and fighter jets to the region. President Biden returned from a weekend at Camp David earlier on Monday.

President Biden spoke about the call at a gathering of cabinet members later in the day, calling it "a very, very, very good meeting."

"Total unanimity with all the European leaders," he added. 

The call lasted roughly an hour and 20 minutes, according to the White House and took place in the White House’s Situation Room via secure video conference. It was closed to the press and public.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg described the meeting as "great" and shared a photo of the meeting in a Twitter post.

"We agree that any further aggression by #Russia against #Ukraine will have severe costs," Stoltenberg wrote.

According to statement released by the White House, the leaders "reiterated their continued concern about the Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s borders and expressed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"The leaders underscored their shared desire for a diplomatic resolution to the current tensions and reviewed recent engagements with Russia in multiple formats," the White House readout of the call read. "The leaders also discussed their joint efforts to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine, including 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."

"They committed to continued close consultation with transatlantic Allies and partners, including working with and through the EU, NATO, and the OSCE," the statement reads.

Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border and has shown no recent sign of backing down or de-escalating its military buildup, though Russian leaders deny they’re planning an invasion. 

Biden on Monday afternoon was scheduled to speak with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Also on the call would be allied leaders President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, President Andrzej Duda of Poland and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom.

At a Pentagon briefing on Monday, Kirby emphasized that the U.S. is "deeply concerned" about the situation in Europe and "keenly focused" on Russia's activity in eastern Europe, specifically mentioning Belarus as well as Ukraine.

Kirby said that "the bulk of" the 8,500 forces would be deployed to aid the NATO response force, but said that the U.S. is in discussions with NATO allies about possible additional U.S. support beyond that figure.

"What this is about is reassurance to our NATO allies ... bolstering our allies with capabilities that they might need," Kirby added.

"We’ve always said we would reinforce our allies on the eastern flank, and those conversations and discussions have certainly been part of what our national security officials have been discussing with their counterparts now for several weeks," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

Russia has demanded that NATO promise to block Ukraine from its membership, among other stipulations about NATO’s presence in easter Europe, but that demand is a nonstarter for the allies.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday and said the U.S. would give Russia written responses to Moscow’s proposals this week, offering some hope that any invasion could be delayed for at least a few more days. Previous high-level talks in Geneva and Brussels this month did not produce any agreement.

While they are still hoping diplomatic efforts can prevail, "it's very clear the Russians have no intention of de-escalating," Kirby said.

"What we are telling these units to do is to be ready to go on a shorter timeline than what they were before," he added. "We are not deploying them now. We are not saying diplomacy is dead."

"We wanted to make sure that we are ready in case that call should come," Kirby said, but noted that there is no specific mission yet for these troops sicne they have not yet been deployed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.