Ukraine

Two Ukrainian banks also lost access to online banking services, according to the government. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said that its website was hit with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. "The website was probably attacked by DDoS: an excessive number of requests per second was recorded. Technical works on restoration of regular functioning are carried out. Communication through FB and Twitter pages.

"Full support to Ukraine in this situation of the military, economic, and psychological pressure," Maasikas was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian National News Agency, adding that "all EU member states' embassies continue to operate." On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced that the US would temporarily relocate its embassy in Ukraine from the capital Kiev to the western city of Lviv, citing escalating tensions on Ukraine's borders, Xinhua news agency reported.

In televised remarks delivered from the White House on the evolving situation on Ukraine's borders, Biden said his country is prepared "to engage in diplomacy with Russia and our allies and partners to improve stability and security in Europe as a whole", Xinhua news agency reported.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it focuses on the need and protection of the 2.9 million people along the "contact line" in Donetsk and Luhansk while international attention is on the broader Ukraine-Russia tensions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lavrov stressed the necessity of continuing the efforts, as agreed upon by President Vladimir Putin and President Joe Biden, to cooperate on Russia's security proposals submitted to the US and the NATO, Xinhua news agency reported. Lavrov underlined the unacceptability of the aggressive rhetoric by Washington and its allies, and called for a pragmatic dialogue on the entire range of issues raised by Russia, particularly the indivisibility of security.

In a Telegram post, Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "February 15, 2022 will go into history as the day western war propaganda failed. They have been disgraced and destroyed without a single shot being fired."

"We are in the process of temporarily relocating our Embassy operations in Ukraine from our Embassy in Kyiv to Lviv due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces," Blinken said, using the Romanized spelling of the name of the capital city from the Ukrainian language.

Russia's Communist Party had submitted the draft resolution last month calling on Putin to formally recognise the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk republics. Experts have described Russian recognition of the Donbas as a possible prelude to an annexation of the region, the report said.

The White House said that during the call on Sunday, Biden made clear that "the US would respond swiftly and decisively, together with its Allies and partners, to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine". The two leaders further agreed on the "importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence" over Russia's military move.

In an updated travel advisory issued on Saturday, the State Department said passport, visa and other routine consular services will be suspended starting from Sunday, but the US will maintain a small consular presence in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to handle emergencies, reports Xinhua news agency.