Later today Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby held a briefing, revealing that the United States will soon move additional forces to Romania, Poland, and Germany. “I want to be very clear about something: these are not permanent moves,” said Kirby. He stressed that these forces are not going to fight in Ukraine, but to “ensure the robust defense of our NATO allies”.
The deployments purport to show support to NATO allies feeling threatened by Russia's military moves near Ukraine, the officials said. 2,000 troops are expected to relocate to Poland and Germany “in coming days”, and one thousand soldiers will be repositioned from Germany to Romania.
Read more: UK PM Johnson Warns - Further Invasion of Ukraine Would Lead to Military Disaster for Russia
Some of the troops to be deployed are already stationed in Europe, the officials said, while others would depart from the United States. Earlier the US put 8,500 troops on standby for deployment to prevent possible Russian invasion. These forces will participate in strengthening US positions in Eastern Europe. The troops will operate on a bilateral basis with their host countries, since NATO has not yet activated a multinational response force.
Romania is about to receive a striker squadron, a mounted cavalry unit which is designed to deploy in short order and to move quickly once in place. American units that are to be dispatched to Europe include the 82nd Airborne Division deploying components of infantry, brigade, combat team and key enablers to Poland and the 18th Airborne Corps is moving joint task force capable headquarters to Germany. “These forces are trained and equipped for a variety of missions to deter aggression and to reassure and to defend our allies”, noted John F. Kirby.
The other day Canada also announced its plans to expand military presence in Ukraine by dispatching another 60 troops in addition to 200 already based there. Canadian Armed Forces are there to help to instruct the Ukrainian Army. Canadian presence is expected to reach 400 troops, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said on Jan. 26.
International presence in Eastern Europe arises due to Russia concentrating over 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, threatening invasion of Ukraine. Referring to the situation with the Crimea, the US warned Russia against further invasion, which would result in “significant costs and consequences” for the aggressor.
Earlyer Ukrainian and US intelligence indicates Russia preparing operation to justify invasion of Ukraine. At the same time USA approved additional $200 mln in security aid to Ukraine and several planeloads of U.S. military aid landed at Boryspil airport in Ukraine.
Read more: A New Russia-West Cold War Becomes Hot: Battle for Ukraine and for Common Sense
