NATO sends ships and jets to eastern Europe in Ukraine crisis

Ukraine shares borders with four NATO countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.BIDEN CONSIDERS U.S. OPTIONSPresident Joe Biden has begun considering options for boosting U.S. military assets in the region, senior administration officials said, after he met top national security aides at his Camp David retreat on Saturday.The New York Times said Biden was mulling plans to send 1,000 to 5,000 troops to eastern European countries, with the possibility of increasing the number should tensions flare further.A senior administration official declined to confirm the numbers on Sunday but said "we are developing plans and we are consulting with allies to determine options moving forward."Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it considered the move to send home U.S. diplomats' families as "premature and a manifestation of excessive caution.""In fact, there have been no cardinal changes in the security situation recently: the threat of new waves of Russian aggression has remained constant since 2014 and the buildup of Russian troops near the state border began in April last year," it said.Britain said at the weekend it had information the Russian government was considering a former Ukrainian lawmaker as a potential candidate to head a pro-Russian puppet leadership in Kyiv.The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the British allegation as "disinformation," accusing NATO of escalating tensions over Ukraine.Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Subscribe to our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day.