French President Emmanuel Macron has told reporters that President Vladimir Putin assured him that Russian forces would not ramp up the crisis near Ukraine’s borders. “I secured an assurance there would be no deterioration or escalation,” he said before meeting Ukraine’s leader. However, Russia said any suggestion of a guarantee was “not right”. Russia has denied any plans to invade Ukraine, but it has assembled more than 100,000 troops near its borders. US officials believe Russia has assembled 70 % of military forces needed for a full-scale invasion. Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? The tensions between Russia, Ukraine and the West come nearly eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula and backed a rebellion in the eastern Donbas region.(BBC)…[+]