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The tension between Ukraine and Russia seems to increase by the day and if the United States is to be believed then Russia may invade Ukraine anytime soon. The UNSC is holding an emergency meeting in New York today on Ukraine's request where the issue of Russia's recognising Ukraine's two provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent countries will be discussed.

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The tension between Ukraine and Russia seems to increase by the day and if the United States is to be believed then Russia may invade Ukraine anytime soon. The UNSC is holding an emergency meeting in New York today on Ukraine's request where the issue of Russia's recognising Ukraine's two provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent countries will be discussed.

Prospects of a French-brokered summit meeting between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at averting a war in Ukraine hung in balance on Monday after the two sides sought guarantees neither was willing to fully commit to.

Although both sides agreed in principle to a presidential-level meeting, the US said it could take place only if Russia committed to not invading Ukraine, a demand that disregarded Moscow's assertion that it has no such plans.

Russia-Ukraine crisis live updates

US officials continued to insist Moscow has put in place troops and military hardware to embark on an invasion within hours, even as they ramped up their high-pitched campaign to allege that the Russian attack would be “extremely violent” and the US has “intelligence to suggest that there will be an even greater form of brutality” against Ukrainians, “to repress them, to crush them, to harm them.”

With the Ukraine situation still on a knife edge, the government on Sunday asked the family members of all Indian diplomats in the country to return to India. The decision suggests a rethink on the prevailing security situation by Indian authorities who had so far maintained that there was no reason to panic and that the Indian mission would continue to function normally.

Official sources confirmed the development hours after, in another Ukraine advisory, the government asked all Indian students, as also other Indian nationals whose stay is not essential, to leave Ukraine while advising them to make use of available commercial flights for timely and orderly departure.

The soaring minarets of the 16th-century Suleymaniye mosque paint the postcard image of Istanbul, but that is now blighted by rickety wooden scaffolding at a nearby construction site, sparking fury on social media.

The latest row over Istanbul's skyline has seen opponents of the new building attack botched restoration work and calls for historical edifices to be protected.

"The disrespect, there is no recognition of any proportion or any limit," Esin Koymen, head of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects, told AFP.

NATO allies accused Russia of misleading the world by saying it was returning some troops to bases, reporting that Moscow has instead added as many as 7,000 more forces near its tense border with Ukraine.

The alliance warned Thursday that the buildup has only strengthened its resolve.

After a handful of positive signals from Russia that eased tensions earlier in the week, the pendulum appeared to be swinging in the opposite direction again.

The NATO chief welcomed Kremlin offers to keep pursuing diplomatic solutions, but he and others warned that the US-led alliance has still seen no sign of the military withdrawal that Moscow announced.