The Fort Worth Press - US deploys troops to support NATO in Ukraine standoff

USD -
AED 3.67299
AFN 67.946782
ALL 93.207221
AMD 386.974854
ANG 1.802123
AOA 910.98202
ARS 998.755701
AUD 1.544354
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.691712
BAM 1.857325
BBD 2.01886
BDT 119.48491
BGN 1.854553
BHD 0.376879
BIF 2952.762636
BMD 1
BND 1.345641
BOB 6.908832
BRL 5.776602
BSD 0.999886
BTN 84.392794
BWP 13.725155
BYN 3.272208
BYR 19600
BZD 2.01548
CAD 1.402545
CDF 2865.000434
CHF 0.887495
CLF 0.035562
CLP 981.309839
CNY 7.230099
CNH 7.24008
COP 4475.83
CRC 510.721544
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.713111
CZK 23.944974
DJF 178.046418
DKK 7.06352
DOP 60.473685
DZD 133.681663
EGP 49.353204
ERN 15
ETB 123.94359
EUR 0.94701
FJD 2.27435
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.78787
GEL 2.730102
GGP 0.789317
GHS 16.072666
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.00036
GNF 8618.069932
GTQ 7.721894
GYD 209.184836
HKD 7.78008
HNL 25.247384
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.382772
HUF 384.544017
IDR 15914.7
ILS 3.738105
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.433902
IQD 1309.851665
IRR 42092.497889
ISK 138.320354
JEP 0.789317
JMD 158.287592
JOD 0.709098
JPY 155.767044
KES 129.250012
KGS 86.3765
KHR 4061.574109
KMF 466.349718
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1400.903561
KWD 0.307599
KYD 0.833207
KZT 495.71708
LAK 21965.811966
LBP 89540.45584
LKR 292.121707
LRD 184.475424
LSL 18.302027
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.884048
MAD 9.98661
MDL 18.112322
MGA 4684.710351
MKD 58.241904
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.01546
MRU 39.750432
MUR 47.190196
MVR 15.449715
MWK 1733.742308
MXN 20.587085
MYR 4.480497
MZN 63.897759
NAD 18.302027
NGN 1679.85963
NIO 36.800319
NOK 11.123215
NPR 135.033904
NZD 1.702345
OMR 0.385033
PAB 0.999905
PEN 3.810139
PGK 3.961938
PHP 58.753497
PKR 277.715048
PLN 4.09533
PYG 7808.968491
QAR 3.64504
RON 4.711401
RSD 110.814981
RUB 99.499055
RWF 1372.787359
SAR 3.756074
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.598533
SDG 601.506089
SEK 10.984197
SGD 1.342375
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.814974
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 571.404152
SRD 35.356496
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.749122
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.309939
THB 34.855016
TJS 10.658475
TMT 3.51
TND 3.157965
TOP 2.342096
TRY 34.34758
TTD 6.789045
TWD 32.561028
TZS 2659.999759
UAH 41.219825
UGX 3669.445974
UYU 42.477826
UZS 12806.024577
VES 44.994614
VND 25400
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 622.917458
XAG 0.032948
XAU 0.00039
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753255
XOF 622.958869
XPF 113.255209
YER 249.801597
ZAR 18.24247
ZMK 9001.209182
ZMW 27.421652
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    -0.0350

    13.335

    -0.26%

  • BCC

    -1.6100

    140.94

    -1.14%

  • JRI

    0.0050

    13.245

    +0.04%

  • CMSC

    0.0150

    24.625

    +0.06%

  • BCE

    0.1410

    27.351

    +0.52%

  • RIO

    -0.1650

    60.455

    -0.27%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    24.755

    +0.1%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    35.28

    +0.48%

  • BTI

    0.2050

    35.625

    +0.58%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1500

    6.96

    -2.16%

  • NGG

    0.5000

    62.62

    +0.8%

  • AZN

    0.6000

    65.89

    +0.91%

  • RBGPF

    -0.9400

    59.25

    -1.59%

  • VOD

    0.0350

    8.785

    +0.4%

  • RELX

    0.2350

    46.355

    +0.51%

  • BP

    0.3390

    28.909

    +1.17%

US deploys troops to support NATO in Ukraine standoff
US deploys troops to support NATO in Ukraine standoff

US deploys troops to support NATO in Ukraine standoff

The United States said Wednesday it was deploying thousands of troops to bolster NATO forces in eastern Europe, ratcheting up its military response to fears that Russia could invade Ukraine.

Text size:

Russia has massed than 100,000 troops on Ukraine's borders, and Western leaders have warned that any incursion into the ex-Soviet nation would be met with "severe consequences."

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said 1,000 US troops in Germany would deploy to Romania, and 2,000 based in the United States would be sent to Germany and Poland.

"It's important that we send a strong signal to (President Vladimir) Putin and the world that NATO matters to the United States," Kirby said, adding "this is not the sum total of the deterrence actions that we will take."

"These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine," he stressed. "They are not permanent moves. They respond to current conditions."

As NATO leaders pursued diplomatic efforts to avert any invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, a senior Kremlin official stressed that Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping shared views on global security.

Russia denies any plans to invade its neighbor, with Putin accusing the West of failing to respect Moscow's security concerns.

The Kremlin said China would explicitly back Russia's stance when Putin visits Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics this week.

"China supports Russia's demands for security guarantees," the Kremlin's top foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters.

Russian officials have demanded a ban on Ukraine joining NATO and on the deployment of missile systems near Russia's borders, as well as a pullback of the US-led military alliance's forces in eastern Europe.

- 'Ukraine just a tool' -

In his first major remarks on the crisis in weeks, Putin on Tuesday suggested Washington was using Kyiv as an instrument to potentially drag Moscow into a war.

"Ukraine itself is just a tool to achieve this goal" of containing Russia, Putin said.

Putin left the door open to talks however, saying he hoped that "in the end we will find a solution."

The United States and NATO have provided written responses to Moscow's demands, which Putin said he is studying.

Spanish newspaper El Pais on Wednesday published what it said were leaked copies of the responses, which showed Washington and NATO offering Moscow arms control and trust-building measures.

The proposals remain firm on insisting that Ukraine and any other country have a right to apply to join the alliance.

But the reported US response suggests "reciprocal commitments by both the United States and Russia to refrain from deploying offensive ground-launched missile systems and permanent forces with a combat mission in the territory of Ukraine."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was meanwhile the latest NATO leader to visit Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine, where he met President Volodymyr Zelensky.

After the talks, Zelensky said Ukraine was focused "only on peace", but insisted it has the right to defend itself.

The Ukrainian leader had met a day earlier with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was due to hold a phone call with Putin on Wednesday.

Tensions have been further aggravated by plans for joint military exercises between Russia and neighboring Belarus, where Washington claims Moscow is preparing to send 30,000 troops.

While stressing that "conflict is not inevitable," Kirby on Wednesday accused Putin of continuing "to destabilize the environment by adding more forces to the western part of his country and Belarus."

Video footage released by the Russian defense ministry on Wednesday showed tanks speeding across snowy fields in Belarus and combat helicopters flying overhead as units from both countries practised ahead of the February 10-20 drills.

Ukraine has been battling Moscow-backed insurgencies in two separatist regions since 2014, when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula.

burs-pmh-bgs/ec

G.Dominguez--TFWP