US proposes $1bn for Europe security

President Barack Obama has announced plans for a $1bn (£600m) fund to increase US military deployments to Europe, during a visit to Poland.

Mr Obama, who will meet Nato leaders amid concerns over the Ukraine crisis, said the security of America's European allies was "sacrosanct". 

In April, 150 US soldiers were sent to Poland for military exercises amid growing tensions with Moscow.

Mr Obama will also visit Belgium and France during his tour.

On his arrival in Warsaw on Tuesday, Mr Obama met US and Polish air personnel from a small detachment of F-16 fighter jets based in Poland. 

US troops arrive in Swidwin, Poland, on 23 April 2014 Poland saw 150 US troops arrive in April and they will be joined by a further 450 in the coming days 

Mr Obama said the US commitment to the security of its allies in Europe was "a cornerstone of our own security".

"Given the situation in Ukraine right now, we have also increased our American presence. We've begun rotating additional ground troops and F-16 aircraft into Poland... to help our forces support Nato air missions," he said.

'New security challenges'

The $1bn European Reassurance Initiative he announced, to fund additional US military rotations to Europe, will need congressional approval.

The proposal came "in light of the new security challenges on the continent", the White House said in a statement, adding: "These efforts will not come at the expense of other defence priorities, such as our commitment to the Asia Pacific rebalance."

Mr Obama's emphasis on relations with Asian nations has left some Eastern European leaders feeling neglected in recent years, the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw reports. 

The crisis in Ukraine has been keenly felt in a region that underwent decades of dominance by Moscow, our correspondent adds.

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In Belgium, the US leader is expected to urge Western leaders to reaffirm their united position on Ukraine at a G7 meeting of major industrial nations.

The summit had been initially planned in Russia, but Western leaders later decided to boycott it following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March.

In France, Mr Obama will take part in ceremonies to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

President Vladimir Putin is also invited, but the White House has already made it clear that the American and Russian leaders will not hold formal bilateral talks.

Washington and its European allies have repeatedly urged Moscow to de-escalate tensions in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has continued between separatists and government troops. 

On Monday, hundreds of rebels attacked a border command centre near the eastern city of Luhansk.

The Kremlin denies Western claims that it is supporting the Ukrainian rebels.

While Nato military commanders believe that the bulk of Russian troops have pulled back from the Ukrainian frontier - and those that remain are getting ready to withdraw - the view here at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, as one senior officer put it, is that Russia's actions have fundamentally changed the security dynamic in Europe. 

The question now is what does Nato do about it, both to caution Russia and to reassure worried alliance members like the Baltic republics and Poland? 

Small additional military deployments have been made but Nato ministers will be discussing on Tuesday what should be done in the future in the way of stepping up exercises and deployments. 

Once planning is more advanced, the proposals will go for approval to the next Nato summit in Wales in September.