A senior U.S. official said that Russia has delivered its response to American and NATO proposals about Ukraine and European security. The Kremlin's response was given to the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, John Sullivan. No details were released.
“We are deadly serious,” he added, “and we’re going to face the threat that is currently being posed.”
Even if an attack doesn’t materialize, the sustained Russian pressure on Ukraine has further hobbled its shaky economy and left an entire nation under constant strain — a situation that could last indefinitely. Ukraine disputed the claim, saying that separatists had shelled its forces, but they didn’t fire back. The Ukrainian military command charged that shells hit a kindergarten building in Stanytsia Luhanska, wounding two civilians, and cut power supply to half of the town.
A 2015 deal brokered by France and Germany helped end the worst of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, but regular skirmishes have continued and a political settlement has stalled.Russia denies it is plotting an invasion but says it’s free to deploy troops wherever necessary to counter threats from NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin charged that Moscow had offered to discuss those issues years ago, but the West only agreed to talk about them now. He said that Russia was ready to talk about them now, but only in conjunction with its main security demands.
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