President Joe Biden has formally approved the United States deploying troops to Eastern Europe amid the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that 3,000 U.S. soldiers would be sent to Poland, Germany, and Romania in order to bolster NATO countries.
The troop deployment is a formal show of support to NATO allies. Countries in Eastern Europe feel threatened by Russia’s military troops amassed along Ukraine’s border. An estimated 100,000 Russian troops were deployed to the Ukraine border weeks ago, and with the diplomatic route reaching an apparent stalemate, the threat of a Russian military invasion is looming.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that the troops’ deployments are not permanent, and emphasized that they are not going to fight in Ukraine. Kirby said that the presence is meant to deter aggression and enhance allies’ defensive capabilities.
Of the 3,000 troops, 2,000 are a new deployment from the United States and will be sent to Germany and Poland. Approximately 1,000 troops that are currently based in Germany are being moved into Romania. The troop deployments will happen in the coming days and are being sent under bilateral agreements with each country.
The troops are separate from the previously reported 8,500 troops in the U.S. that were recently put on heightened alert to be ready for military deployment at short notice. Those 8,500 soldiers are reserved to be part of a NATO Response Force, which would act to bolster the military alliance’s eastern military capabilities if Russia did attack Ukraine. NATO has not yet activated the NATO Response Force, and it would require the 30 member states to agree.
It’s a huge step for the United States in the ongoing Ukraine crisis and shows that the U.S. is preparing for a very real possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin will launch a military invasion into Ukraine.
Several rounds of diplomatic talks between Russia and Western-allied nations have resulted in little to no movement. Russia has met with the U.S. twice in Geneva, and with the NATO alliance as well.
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