Pentagon puts up to 8,500 US troops on alert as Ukraine crisis worsens

Up to 8,500 US forces have been placed on ''heightened alert'' for potential deployment to eastern Europe amid growing tensions between Washington and Moscow over Ukraine, the Pentagon announced Monday.

Defense Department press secretary John Kirby stressed during his regular briefing that no final decision had been made about whether to send troops to the region as part of a 40,000-strong NATO Response Force (NRF) in the event Russia invades its western neighbor.

''We’ll continue to provide updates in the coming days about these decisions,'' Kirby said.