(ANSA-AFP) - WASHINGTON, FEB 2 - The United States said Wednesday it was deploying thousands of troops to bolster NATO forces in eastern Europe, ratcheting up its military response to fears that Russia could invade Ukraine. Russia has massed than 100,000 troops on Ukraine's borders, and Western leaders have warned that any incursion into the ex-Soviet nation would be met with "severe consequences." Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said 1,000 US troops in Germany would deploy to Romania, and 2,000 based in the United States would be sent to Germany and Poland.

"It's important that we send a strong signal to (President Vladimir) Putin and the world that NATO matters to the United States," Kirby said, adding "this is not the sum total of the deterrence actions that we will take." "These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine," he stressed. "They are not permanent moves. They respond to current conditions." (ANSA-AFP).