US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are to hold talks in Geneva later amid mounting fears that Russia could be about to invade Ukraine.

On Thursday Mr Blinken warned Moscow of grave consequences if any of its forces crossed the border.

Russia has 100,000 troops at the border but denies planning to invade.

President Vladimir Putin has issued demands to the West, including that Ukraine is stopped from joining Nato.

He also wants the Western defensive alliance to abandon military activity in eastern Europe but has received no reassurances.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has also called on Mr Putin to “desist and step back from Ukraine before he makes a massive strategic mistake” that would lead to the terrible loss of life.

In a speech on Friday in Sydney, she urged Western powers to “step up” and warned that autocratic nations were being “emboldened in a way we haven’t seen since the cold war”.

Earlier this week, Britain announced it was supplying Ukraine with extra troops for training and defensive weapons.