Vladimir Putin suggests dialogue is still possible on Ukraine crisis

Vladimir Putin has suggested it is still not too late for dialogue over Ukraine, as the world continues to be left guessing whether the Russian president is on the brink of invading his neighbour, or whether his military buildup is a negotiating ploy.

Putin, who has taken to holding meetings with extreme social distancing owing to a fear of contracting Covid, gave his assent from the other end of an extremely long table.

The footage released from the meeting appeared carefully choreographed to send a message about Kremlin thinking.

Russia has massed an estimated 145,000 troops along various stretches of its border with Ukraine, in Belarus where joint military drills are taking place, and in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

US officials said over the weekend that Russia had accelerated plans for an invasion and could launch a full-scale land and air assault as soon as Wednesday.

The change of mind two days later suggests that US security assessments have darkened still further.

Western diplomatic efforts to avert an invasion continued on Monday, with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in Kyiv.

Putin has claimed that Ukraine joining Nato would inevitably lead to war between Russia and the alliance.

While most western officials believe Ukraine has little chance of joining Nato any time soon, they are reluctant to publicly rule out the possibility.

After the US warnings of imminent military action, diplomats from numerous countries, including the US, Canada and Australia have evacuated from Kyiv and are running small emergency diplomatic missions from the western city of Lviv.

Many European countries, where there is some scepticism about the US warnings, have decided to keep a diplomatic presence in Kyiv. The British ambassador has also remained in Kyiv, along with a core team.

In a video released on Monday evening, Zelenskiy said he was declaring Wednesday, the day American officials briefed could be the start of military action, as a day of national unity.

The low-cost airline SkyUp, which had to divert a plane to Moldova on Sunday after the company that owned the plane banned it from entering Ukrainian airspace, said it had resumed ticket sales after coming to an agreement with the Ukrainian government.

Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called for calm, saying they see the threat on the border but do not believe Russia will launch a full-scale invasion and that the apocalyptic US messaging is only serving to create panic and chaos economic chaos.