Russia-Ukraine updates: US to ban Russian carriers from its airspace

Russian-controlled separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed on Sunday Ukrainian forces tried to storm some frontline positions in the separatist-held areas overnight and accused them of killing two civilians.

Ukraine has denied its forces have launched any attacks and the unverified claims came as Russia appeared to be intensifying its efforts to build a pretext to launch an invasion of Ukraine, by claiming it is coming to the defense of the separatists. Russian and separatist officials and media in the past four days have unleashed a barrage of false claims about Ukrainian attacks, including staging a fake bombing on a car in the separatists’ de facto capital, Donetsk.

The separatists claimed a Ukrainian airborne brigade attempted to storm their positions near the village of Pionerskoye, trying to force a river crossing there. They said five residential buildings were destroyed and that there are civilian casualties. They also claim to have fought off the Ukrainians, killing some.

The frontline in eastern Ukraine has been static for years and Ukraine is right now trying to avoid any actions that could give Russia an excuse to attack. Ukrainian troops have been ordered to largely hold fire, even if fired on.

The separatists and Russian state media are accusing Ukraine of preparing a major offensive, a claim that would align with Russia using a pretext to attack if it wants to.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

President Joe Biden will convene a meeting of his National Security Council Sunday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Psaki said Biden "continues to monitor the evolving situation in Ukraine, and is being updated regularly about events on the ground by his national security team."

He was also updated on Vice President Kamala Harris' meetings at the Munich Security Conference, Psaki said. Harris addressed the conference Saturday afternoon and then met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of Germany, Greece, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday told reporters in Lithuania he agrees with President Joe Biden that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a decision to invade Ukraine. 

“For months now, Russia has been building up its military forces in and around Ukraine, including in Belarus. They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,” Austin said

Austin told reporters that there is still a diplomatic path to end the situation. 

"Conflict is not inevitable, Mr. Putin can choose a different path,” he said. 

"I believe that we should continue to try up until the very last minute until it's no longer possible,” he added later. “ But I think I think if you look at the stance that he is in today it's apparent that he has made a decision and that they're moving into the right positions to be able to conduct an attack.”

Austin said Russia has the military capability in the region "to move anytime he chooses."

As he told Martha Raddatz in her exclusive interview on Friday, those forces include not only combat forces, but logistics, combat aviation, field hospitals and command and control operations. 

The U.S. currently has 100 American troops in Lithuania and it appears that a major topic of discussion between the two leaders was setting up a permanent American military presence in the Baltic country. Austin said he had no announcements to make about the possibility but Lithuania's Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas acknowledged that the topic took up much of their discussion.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 countries met in Munich on Saturday, amid the looming threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"The increase in ceasefire violations along the line of contact in recent days is highly concerning. We condemn the use of heavy weaponry and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, which constitute a clear violation of the Minsk Agreements," the group said in a statement. 

The group, made up of the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, after holding their own meeting. 

Kuleba said he would travel to Brussels then Washington, to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. Blinken is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

In a joint statement, the G-7 foreign ministers threatened Russia with massive consequences if it invades Ukraine. 

"While we are ready to explore diplomatic solutions to address legitimate security concerns, Russia should be in no doubt that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences, including financial and economic sanctions on a wide array of sectoral and individual targets that would impose severe and unprecedented costs on the Russian economy," the G-7 said. 

Amid continued false claims by Russian-controlled separatists of Ukrainian attacks, the group says these claims "must be seen as laying the ground for military escalation" and calls the increase in shelling "highly concerning." The group urges Russia to "use its influence over the self-proclaimed republics to exercise restraint and de-escalate."

Blinken also met one-on-one with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, with his British and Australian counterparts under the AUKUS security alliance umbrella, and with his Saudi counterpart amid the quiet U.S. push for Saudi Arabia to break with Russia over oil and increase production.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan