Obama rules out military action over Ukraine

President Barack Obama is ruling out the possibility that the US will take military action to address growing violence in Ukraine.

Obama says the US will stand firm with its allies to address the conflict in Ukraine, where the US says Russia is backing pro-Russian separatists. But Obama says a military confrontation between the US and Russia in the region, quote, “is not in the cards.”

But Obama is pointing to the Nato alliance as a deterrent for Russia. He says although Ukraine isn’t part of Nato, other nearby nations are. He says the US takes its commitment to defend Nato allies “very seriously.”