Ukraine crisis updates: What to know as tensions rise

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The United States and NATO have made no concessions to the main Russian demands to resolve the crisis over Ukraine, including giving Moscow a guarantee that Ukraine can never join the Western alliance.

The focus is now on how Russia will respond — a decision that rests squarely with President Vladimir Putin and one that could determine whether Europe will again be plunged into war.

Here are things to know on Thursday about the international tensions surrounding Ukraine.

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RUSSIA'S RESPONSE SO FAR

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the response from the U.S. — and a similar one from NATO — leaves “little ground for optimism.”

At the same time, he added that “there always are prospects for continuing a dialogue, it’s in the interests of both us and the Americans.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that the U.S. response contains some elements that could lead to “the start of a serious talk on secondary issues.”

But Lavrov emphasized that “the document contains no positive response on the main issue,” the Russian demands for the non-expansion of NATO and the non-deployment of weapons that Russia says its views as a threat.

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RUSSIA HOPES FOR POLITICAL CHANGE IN KYIV

A top Putin associate, former President and ex-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, says a war would be catastrophic and that he hopes that Ukraine will choose leaders who want “normal” ties with Russia.

Medvedev, a deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said that a Russia-NATO conflict “would be the most dramatic and simply catastrophic scenario, and I hope it will never happen.”

Medvedev argued that Moscow sees no point in talking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but voiced hope that...