NATO, US ask Russia to end Ukraine build-up

Brussels, April 13

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered the United States full support to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia on Tuesday as NATO called on Moscow to halt a large troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders.

Blinken said“the US stands firmly behind the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine”. He said he would discuss Kyiv’s ambitions to one day join NATO.

Blinken met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba after the Group of Seven foreign ministers condemned the increase in Russian troops, which the West says has gone unexplained. Blinken said Moscow was massing forces in its biggest build-up since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine. — Reuters

Stay away from Crimea: Kremlin

Moscow: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has called the US an adversary and told US warships to stay well away from Crimea “for their own good”, calling their deployment in the Black Sea a provocation. Reuters