Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of trying to pull it into an armed conflict over Ukraine that Russia doesn’t want. In his first public comments about Ukraine in months, Putin said the US has ignored Russia’s key security concerns about western-backed NATO troops being stationed in Eastern Europe, an area previously controlled by the Soviet Union. Putin appeared alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a news conference in Moscow in a flurry of diplomacy that’s being seen by commentators as an attempt to defuse the crisis. America’s representatives used a UN Security Council meeting yesterday to reiterate concerns about the 100,000-plus Russian troops currently stationed along Ukraine’s border. The US wants a peaceful resolution to the crisis but warns it’ll act swiftly if Russia invades. Putin told reports that he wants to avoid war with NATO but added, “I’m not yet ready to talk about what kind of solution it will be.” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, said he wants Putin to pull back from the brink. Johnson said the UK and its allies are ready to launch economic sanctions “the moment the first Russian toe-cap crosses further into Ukrainian territory”.