A series of high level talks are in the works on Tuesday to avert the threat of war as Russian troops mass by the tens of thousands on the borders of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to make an appearance with the Hungarian prime minister, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is taking a break from his troubles at home for a meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Kremlin also announced Putin's in-person meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron "in the foreseeable future."

High-stakes diplomacy continued on Friday in a bid to avert a war in Eastern Europe. The urgent efforts come as 100,000 Russian troops are massed near Ukraine's border and the Biden administration worries that Russian President Vladimir Putin will mount some sort of invasion within weeks.

Here are things to know about the international tensions surrounding Ukraine.

France's Macron takes own path, seeks dialogue with Russia

There's still room for diplomacy in the Ukrainian crisis. At least that's the conviction of French President Emmanuel Macron, who continues to push for dialogue with Russia despite signs pointing to a potential war.

Twice in the past week, Yemen's rebels have launched attacks with missiles and drones on the United Arab Emirates, a major escalation for one of the world's most protracted conflicts.

The attacks underscore how the war that has ground on for over seven years in the corner of the Arabian Peninsula can flare into a regional danger. One of this week's attacks targeted an Emirati military base hosting U.S. and British forces.

Lebanon's Saad Hariri, who announced on Monday that he was withdrawing from political life, was thrust into the limelight by his father's assassination but always struggled to fill his shoes.

As winter deepens, a grim situation in Afghanistan is getting worse. Freezing temperatures are compounding misery from the downward spiral that has come with the fall of the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban takeover.

Aid groups and international agencies estimate about 23 million people, more than half the country, face severe hunger and nearly 9 million are on the brink of starvation. People have resorted to selling possessions to buy food, burning furniture for warmth and even selling their children.

On a warm spring day in Ukraine 26 years ago, three men smiled for cameras as they planted symbolic sunflower seedlings in freshly tilled earth where Soviet nuclear missiles had once stood ready.

That placid scene was, briefly, a launchpad for hope that the demise of the Soviet Union would bury the threat of great power war and mark the start of lasting peace in an undivided Europe. Today Ukraine is ground zero for worry that Russia will ignite a conflict that could engulf the region.

With tens of thousands of Russian troops positioned near Ukraine, the Kremlin has kept the U.S. and its allies guessing about its next moves in the worst security crisis to emerge between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.

Amid fears of an imminent attack on Ukraine, Russia has further upped the ante by announcing more military drills in the region. It also has refused to rule out the possibility of military deployments to the Caribbean, and President Vladimir Putin has reached out to leaders opposed to the West.

President Joe Biden is not planning to answer a further Russian invasion of Ukraine by sending combat troops. But he could pursue a range of less dramatic yet still risky military options, including supporting a post-invasion Ukrainian resistance.

The rationale for not directly joining a Russia-Ukraine war is simple. The United States has no treaty obligation to Ukraine, and war with Russia would be an enormous gamble, given its potential for expanding in Europe, destabilizing the region, and escalating to the frightening point of risking a nuclear exchange.

A top rights activist feels populist autocrats could be facing a turning point as people learn that stirring words don't always translate into action, but he says democratic politicians will have to step up with "visionary leadership" to keep autocrats from getting a second chance.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wants to counter what he sees as "conventional wisdom" holding that autocrats are in the ascendancy. He commented as the New York-based advocacy group on Thursday released its annual report chronicling the human rights situations in roughly 100 countries where it works – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.