Blinken spoke with French counterpart on Russian military activity in Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on the death of former secretary of state Colin Powell in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S. October 18, 2021. Mandel Ngan/Pool via REUTERS

(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Saturday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss reports of what they called "concerning" Russian military activity in and near Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said there are nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine's border and that Western countries had shared information about active Russian troop movements with Kyiv.