France, Germany and Turkey reach out to Putin as troops remain on Ukraine border

Mediation offers come as Russia accuses US of increasing tensions by sending soldiers to Romania and Poland

Competing mediation offers showered down on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday as the Russian defence minister visited troops on the Ukraine border before unprecedented joint exercises with Belarus, due to start in a week's time.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, on a trip to Kyiv, offered to host talks between Ukraine and Russia. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, prepared a fourth phone call in a week with Putin, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he was planning a trip to Moscow.