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5:25
United States: 8,500 soldiers are alert to tension with Russia
The final decision of deployment has not been taken into account. However, the United States is ready to respond should the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decide to deploy its force.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has placed as many as 8,500 troops on guard duty to be ready to send, if necessary, to comfort NATO partners despite continued Russian hostility down the line with Ukraine.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said no official conclusions have been drawn about the deployment. He said the request is tied to ensuring the United States is prepared to React should NATO decide to hand over its reaction power.
Kirby assured that it is about reassuring NATO allies.
Conflicts create tension
The concern that Moscow intends to attack Ukraine was the tension that began on Monday between the West and Russia.
NATO laid out some possible troop and ship deployments. Great Britain reported the withdrawal of certain representatives from Kiev. Ireland charged that the Russian war games will not take place.
The Western alliance made a statement in which it summarized the moves previously reported by the nations that are part of the organization, although reaffirming them under the NATO banner seemed to be planned to show its determination.
It was just one of the statements in which they indicated that the West is advancing its way of speaking in the information warfare that has gone with the Ukraine stalemate.
About 100,000 soldiers have been mustered by Russia near the Ukraine line.
Requesting that NATO promise that it will never allow Ukraine to join and that different activities be reduced, for example, the positioning of coalition troops in the former Soviet alliance nations.
Banning Ukraine forever is outside NATO's realm of possibility, making for a seemingly unbreakable stalemate that many fear could end in war.
For its part, Russia denies it is staging an invasion and says the Western accusations are essentially a cover for NATO's own incitement.
The last two days have seen high-level discretion, that has not achieved any results on the part of the two sides.
On Monday, NATO assured that it is reinforcing its prevention in the Baltic Sea area.
Spain is sending four warplanes to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join the NATO maritime powers. France is prepared to send troops to Romania.
Denmark is sending a frigate and transporting F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania. The Netherlands is also planning to send two F-35 fighter jets to Bulgaria starting in April.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insists that they will do everything possible to secure and protect all partners. He assured that they will always react to any deterioration in their security, including reinforcing collective defense.
The assumptions responsible for the tension of the moment
The representative of the Kremlin in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, said in a press conference that it is not Russia that is behind the increase in tensions, since in his opinion, NATO and the United States are the only ones responsible.
In turn, NATO offered remarks as European Union foreign ministers tried to make a new show of solidarity on the Ukraine side and cover up concerns about divisions.
The Organization is concerned with finding the best way to manage any Russian hostility.
The member ministers reported in a statement that the EU has advanced in the sanctions agreements and warned that any additional military hostility by Russia against Ukraine will have massive results and severe costs.
Regardless, the EU also agreed to increased monetary aid to hard-pressed Ukraine and pledged to offer them 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in advances and retribution.
Statements by the European Union
The West apprehensively watches the development of Russian troops and war games in Belarus for signs of an attack. Russia has already attacked Ukraine once, adding the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Asked whether the EU would follow a US move and ask groups of staff at the European consulate in Ukraine to leave, Josep Borrell, the EU's head of international strategy, said they would not do the same.
England said it is removing certain negotiators and wards from its government office in Kiev.
While Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, said an attack was not inevitable, the intelligence is grim. He added that he believes sanity can still win.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry representative Oleg Nikolenko said the US decision was an unwelcome move and an indication of irrational red flags.
He said that Russia is sowing alarm among Ukrainians and foreigners to undermine Ukraine.
At the moment, Germany has not made a similar request, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, stressed that it should not contribute to weakening the destabilizing situation.
Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, told the EU meeting that he would talk with partners about Russian conflict games being staged 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Ireland, within Ireland's exclusive economic zone.
Coveney assured that this is not an opportunity to increase military action and pressure regarding what is happening with and in Ukraine.
In addition, he disapproves of the decision to do it on the western borders, off the coast of Ireland, as they do not consider it welcome.
NATO member states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said they intend to send enemy tank and anti-aircraft rockets created on US soil to Ukraine, a move supported by Washington.
Doubts have been raised about EU solidarity. Different political, exchange and energy interests have long divided the coalition of 27 countries in its approach to Moscow.
About 40% of the EU's natural gas imports come from Russia, much of it via pipelines through Ukraine, and many fears running out of that supply in winter.
