President Joe Biden will deploy three thousand American troops to Eastern Europe “in the coming days” in a move designed to show solidarity with NATO allies worried about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Roughly 1,000 service members who are already based in Germany are moving to Romania, and roughly 2,000 are moving from Fort Bragg to Germany and Poland,” reports The Washington Post.
“These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They are not permanent moves. They respond to current conditions,” a senior Biden administration official told the outlet.
The Wall Street Journal adds:
In all, the moves are intended to try to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine and avert war in Eastern Europe, the officials said. Along with these moves, the Biden administration is trying to find a diplomatic solution, readying a barrage of economic sanctions should Russia attack and authorizing the transfer of some weapons and other equipment to Ukraine.
The New York Times reports:
The president’s decision comes days after Pentagon leaders said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had deployed the necessary troops and military hardware to conduct an invasion of Ukraine. Senior Defense Department officials also said that the tense standoff was leading the United States, its NATO allies and Russia into uncharted territory.
The number of Russian troops assembled at Ukraine’s borders has reached well north of 100,000, the officials said, publicly confirming for the first time what intelligence analysts have described for weeks.