When the crisis in Ukraine began late last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government issued a lengthy list of demands to the U.S. and its European allies. Near the top was a call for the nations to withdraw all their troops, equipment and weaponry from former Soviet-bloc states bordering Russia.
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Putin ordered the invasion of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, the U.S. military is sending even more firepower to Russia’s doorstep.
President Joe Biden ordered American troops, attack aircraft and fighter jets into eastern Europe to reassure North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and deter further aggression from Moscow. “As Russia contemplates its next move, we have our next move prepared as well,” Biden said at the White House Tuesday. “I have authorized additional movements of U.S. forces and equipment already stationed in Europe to strengthen our Baltic allies, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.”
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The White House and European allies have scrambled to respond since Russia began massing more than 190,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders. For months, Biden has insisted U.S. troops will not fight in Ukraine, which is not a NATO ally, but he has redoubled defenses in surrounding countries by temporarily repositioning American forces from other parts of Europe. “These are totally defensive moves on our part,” Biden said Tuesday. “We have no intention of fighting Russia. We want to send an unmistakable message that the United States together with our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory and abide by the commitments we made to NATO.”
About 6,000 U.S. forces have already been sent to Germany, Poland and Romania. In Poland, U.S. paratroopers with the from the 82nd Airborne Division are setting up military facilities in preparation for processing thousands of refugees expected to flee across the country’s eastern border with Ukraine should Moscow launch a mass invasion. In…
Source : time
