US official: Russia adds 7K more troops near Ukraine border | AP News

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians defied pressure from Moscow with a national show of flag-waving unity Wednesday, while the U.S.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that he wants a peaceful path out of the crisis, and U.S.

Russian Defense Ministry video showed a trainload of armored vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

A senior U.S.

The official said those claims included reports of unmarked graves of civilians allegedly killed by Ukrainian forces, statements that the U.S.

A 2015 deal brokered by France and Germany helped end the worst of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, but implementation has stalled.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Russia is in the final phase of preparing its formal response to the West.

The Kremlin wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe.

Russian fighter jets flew training missions Wednesday over neighboring Belarus and paratroopers held shooting drills at firing ranges there as part of massive war games that the West feared could be used as cover for an invasion of Ukraine.

The White House will lean on Vice President Kamala Harris to help with diplomatic efforts when she travels to Germany to take part in this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, officials said.

Isachenkov reported Moscow and Cook from Brussels.

…Read the full story