Obama: No US military involvement in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is repeating his position that involving the U.S. military in Ukraine is not an option he is considering.

Obama said Thursday that is because what's happening in Eastern Europe is not a situation that would be amenable to a military solution.

Instead, Obama says Russia has to create an environment in which separatist forces that are occupying buildings in Ukraine disarm and begin negotiations with Ukraine's interim government. He says there must also be progress on reforms that meet the interests of various groups inside Ukraine, that elections be held and the country stabilizes its economy.

He says thousands of Russian troops massed along the Ukrainian border were sent there as a "gesture of intimidation."