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The U.S. and Russian presidents tentatively agreed to meet in a last-ditch effort to stave off a聽possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as sustained shelling continued Monday in a conflict in eastern Ukraine that Western powers fear could provide the spark for a broader war.

If Russia invades, as the U.S. warns聽Moscow has already decided to do, the meeting will be off. Still the prospect of a face-to-face summit resuscitated hopes that diplomacy could prevent a devastating conflict, which would result in massive casualties and聽huge economic damage across Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian energy.

Russia has massed an estimated 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine 鈥� the biggest such buildup since the Cold War. And Western officials have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now looking for a pretext to invade the country, a western-looking democracy that has defied Moscow鈥檚 attempts to pull it back into its orbit.

On Monday, Mr.聽Putin convened top officials to consider recognizing the independence of Russia-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.聽Putin鈥檚 move follows televised statements by separatist leaders, who pleaded with the Russian president to recognize them as independent states and sign friendship treaties envisaging military aid to protect them from what they described as the ongoing Ukrainian military offensive. Russia鈥檚 lower house made the same plea last week.

Even as diplomatic efforts inched forward, potential flashpoints multiplied. Fighting escalated in eastern Ukraine, Russia said it had fended off an 鈥渋ncursion鈥� from Ukraine 鈥� which Ukrainians officials denied 鈥� and Russia decided to prolong military drills in Belarus.

Moscow denies it has any plans to attack, but wants Western guarantees that NATO won鈥檛 allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members. It has also demanded the alliance halt weapons deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe 鈥� demands flatly rejected by the West.

With the prospect of war looming, French President Emmanuel Macron聽scrambled to broker聽a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin.

Macron's office said both leaders had 鈥渁ccepted the principle of such a summit,鈥� to be followed by a broader meeting that would include other 鈥渞elevant stakeholders to discuss security and strategic stability in Europe.鈥�

The language from Moscow and Washington was more cautious, but neither side denied a meeting is under discussion.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration has always been ready to talk to avert a war 鈥� but was also prepared to respond to any attack.

鈥淪o when President Macron asked President Biden yesterday if he was prepared in principle to meet with President Putin, if Russia did not invade, of course President Biden said yes," he told NBC's 鈥淭oday鈥� show on Monday. "But every indication we see on the ground right now in terms of the disposition of Russian forces is that they are, in fact, getting prepared for a major attack on Ukraine.鈥�

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that Putin and Biden could meet if they consider it 鈥渇easible,鈥� but emphasized that 鈥渋t鈥檚 premature to talk about specific plans for a summit.鈥�

Macron鈥檚 office said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are set to lay the groundwork for the potential summit when they meet Thursday. The French leader has been trying to play go-between to avert a new war in Europe, and his announcement followed a flurry of calls by Macron to Putin, Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Even as the diplomacy pressed ahead, there were signs it might not head off a broader conflict. Russia and its ally Belarus announced Sunday that they were extending massive war games on Belarus' territory, which could offer a staging ground for an attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, located just 75 kilometers (less than 50 miles) south of the border.

Starting Thursday,聽shelling also spiked along the tense line of contact聽that separates Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. Over 14,000 people have been killed since conflict erupted there in 2014, shortly after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine and the separatist rebels have traded blame for massive cease-fire violations with hundreds of explosions recorded daily. The world is watching the fighting warily since Western officials have warned for weeks that Russia would look for a pretext to invade 鈥� and that聽the conflict in Donbas聽could provide just such an excuse.

On Friday, separatist officials announced the evacuation of civilians and military mobilization in the face of what they described as an imminent Ukrainian offensive on the rebel regions. Ukrainian officials have strongly denied any plans to launch such an attack.

While Russia-backed separatists have charged that Ukrainian forces were firing on residential areas, Associated Press journalists reporting from several towns and villages in Ukrainian-held territory along the line of contact have not witnessed any notable escalation from the Ukrainian side and have documented signs of intensified shelling by the separatists that destroyed homes and ripped up roads.

Some residents of the main rebel-held city of Donetsk described sporadic shelling by Ukrainian forces, but they added that it wasn鈥檛 on the same scale as earlier in the nearly 8-year-old conflict in the east.

The separatist authorities said Monday that at least four civilians were killed by Ukrainian shelling over the past 24 hours and several others were wounded. Ukraine鈥檚 military said two Ukrainian soldiers were killed over the weekend, and another serviceman was wounded Monday.

Ukrainian military spokesman Pavlo Kovalchyuk said the separatists were 鈥渃ynically firing from residential areas using civilians as shields.鈥� He insisted that Ukrainian forces weren鈥檛 returning fire.

In another worrying sign, Moscow also alleged that forces from Ukraine crossed into Russia's Rostov region. The Russian military said it killed five suspected 鈥渟aboteurs鈥� who crossed from Ukraine and also destroyed two armored vehicles. Ukrainian Border Guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko dismissed the Russian claim as 鈥渄isinformation.鈥�

Amid the heightened invasion fears, the U.S. administration sent a letter to the United Nations human rights chief claiming that Moscow has compiled a list of Ukrainians to be killed or sent to detention camps after the invasion. The letter, first reported by the New York Times, was obtained by the AP.

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the claim was a lie and no such list exists.

Throughout the crisis, Ukraine's leaders have sought to project calm 鈥� repeatedly playing down the threat of an invasion.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Monday that Russia has amassed 147,000 troops around Ukraine, including 9,000 in Belarus, arguing that the number is clearly insufficient for an offensive on the Ukrainian capital from the north.

鈥淭he talk about an attack on Kyiv from the Belarusian side sounds ridiculous,鈥� he said, charging that Russia is using the troops there as a scare tactic.

The European Union鈥檚 top diplomat, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, welcomed the prospect of a Biden-Putin summit but said the 27-nation bloc has finalized its package of sanctions for use if Putin orders an invasion.

鈥淭he work is done. We are ready,鈥� said Borrell. He provided no details about who might be targeted.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday that the European Union has also agreed to send military officers to the country in an advisory role. It鈥檚 likely to take several months to set up.

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Karmanau reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Cook from Brussels. Lori Hinnant in Kyiv; Angela Charlton in Paris; Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani in Munich, Germany; Geir Moulson in Berlin; and Ellen Knickmeyer, Robert Burns, Matthew Lee and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.