Europe to fore in Ukraine crisis as US warns of Russian plot

The leaders of Turkey and France attempted to mediate in the Ukraine crisis on Thursday as Washington announced it had evidence of a Russian plan to fake a Ukrainian attack to justify invading its neighbour.

The shock claim from the US came as Russia accused Washington of "escalating tensions" by sending 3,000 troops to eastern Europe to counter a massive build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine's border.

Western powers have been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to try deter a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron held telephone talks Thursday both with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to try defuse tensions.

The scramble to head off another conflict in Ukraine comes eight years after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula and Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's east rose up against the pro-Western government in Kyiv.

The drama continued on Thursday with the Pentagon saying it had evidence of a plan by Moscow to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russians to justify a real assault on its pro-West neighbour.

"As part of this fake attack, we believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations," he said, adding that the attack would target "Russian sovereign territory" or "Russian speaking people".

The latter could refer to the sizeable Russian-speaking population inside Ukraine.

Russia has denied any plans to attack Ukraine, saying the troops in the border area are carrying out military exercises.

In his third call in a week with Macron, Putin accused Kyiv of "provocative statements and actions" and...