Austin says Putin now has full range of options in Ukraine

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says Russia has arrayed enough military forces along Ukraine’s borders to provide Moscow with a complete range of options, including moves short of a full-scale invasion. Earlier Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that the West has failed to consider Russia’s key conditions of halting further NATO expansion, stopping the deployment of alliance weapons near Russian borders and rolling back forces from Eastern Europe. The U.S. and NATO have rejected those demands. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia doesn’t want war but sees no room for compromise on its demands.