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The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:

* NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed U.S. deployment of additional troops to Europe, urged Russia to deescalate the Ukraine crisis and said NATO is ready to find a diplomatic solution.

* Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that the U.S. deployment is escalating tensions in the region.

* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has offered to serve as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, visited Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

* The White House said late Wednesday U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed coordinating diplomatic efforts and “plans to impose economic costs on Moscow should it invade Ukraine.”

* The Norwegian Refugee Council warned that escalated conflict in eastern Ukraine would worsen the humanitarian situation in a region that already has nearly 3 million people who rely on aid.

* The Pentagon said Wednesday it is sending 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania and deploying approximately 2,000 troops to Germany and Poland amid the Russia-Ukraine tensions. Another 8,500 personnel remain on heightened alert posture in the United States.

* The West is demanding that Russia pull its troops and weapons from the Ukraine border, while Moscow is pushing for NATO to curtail its operations in Eastern and Central Europe. Russia also insists the Western defensive alliance reject Ukraine’s membership bid, a move the United States calls a “nonstarter.”

* According to U.S. and Ukrainian estimates, Russia has massed about 127,000 troops along its border with Ukraine, including in Belarus and in occupied Crimea.