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

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Sunday by phone in an apparent last-ditch effort to discourage the Russian president from invading Ukraine.

Macron claimed that he and Putin agreed to "resume the work" of the Normandy Format peace talks, the long-running negotiations mediated by France and Germany and aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine between Russian-controlled separatists and Ukraine's government.

Macron's office says the agreement was made on the basis of "the exchanges and proposals made by Ukraine in recent days."

The Kremlin's readout of the call, though, did not say the two had agreed to anything concrete on the Normandy Format and noted Putin has accused Ukraine of only "initiating" negotiations. Putin did agree to intensify the search for a diplomatic solution, given "the severity" of the situation, the Kremlin said in a statement.

During the call, Putin blamed the escalation around eastern Ukraine on the Ukrainian military and expressed "serious concern" about the "sharp deterioration" around the frontline there, according to the Kremlin. 

Following the call, Macron spoke by phone with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for 30 minutes, according to the French president's office.

Afterward, Zelenskyy tweeted that Ukraine wants an immediate "regime of silence" to be observed in eastern Ukraine and called for the Trilateral Contact Group that helps mediate ceasefire violations to be immediately convened amid the intensified shelling in the region as Russia continues to build an apparent pretext for an attack.

Vice President Kamala Harris is confident the threat of sanctions from U.S. and European partners will "absolutely" deter Russia from invading Ukraine, even if Putin has made up his mind, she told reporters before departing Munich to return to the U.S. on Sunday. 

Harris reaffirmed the statement President Joe Biden made on Friday — that Putin has already made his decision to invade. 

"We believe Putin has made his decision," she said. "Period."

When asked by ABC News foreign correspondent Molly Nagle about whether the U.S. has enough leverage for those sanctions to make a difference, Harris reiterated that sanctions are the best tactic, especially since allies "sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment."

"Remember, also, that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as [the] United States, but a shared perspective among our allies," she said. "And the allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one."

Harris also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in a difficult position on joining NATO, since it faces imminent threat from Russia, and emphasized the “significance” of a potential war in Europe.

"It's been over 70 years, and through those 70 years, as I mentioned yesterday, there has been peace and security," she said. "We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe."

-ABC News’ Justin Gomez

The Munich Security Conference, which Vice President Kamala Harris attended on Sunday, was targeted with “massive cyber attacks,” Benedikt Franke, the CEO of the conference, tweeted. Those attacks were blocked.

“We have once again been under massive cyberattacks over the last hour,” Franke wrote. “Thanks to our partners we have been able to withstand and keep our systems running.”

Russia’s threat to Ukraine was the main subject of the conference.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Belarus' defense minister has announced that Russian troops will stay in the country, signaling an abrupt change in the Kremlin's plans.

The Kremlin had said the thousands of Russian troops would go home after joint exercises ended on Feb. 20. Now, they say troops will stay put and continue to "check" its forces amassed in the country.

Belarus Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said the Russian troops would remain because of "increasing military activity on the eastern borders and the worsening situation in the Donbas" in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has massed an estimated 30,000 troops in Belarus for the joint war games "Allied Resolve," moving many of them thousands of miles from bases in Russia's far east.

The U.S. fears the Russian troops in Belarus — including tanks, attack helicopters, squadrons of fighter jets, airborne units, long-range heavy artillery and ballistic missiles — could be used to threaten Kyiv in the event of a Russian invasion. The Ukrainian capital is just a few hours drive from Belarus' southern border.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell