President Joe Biden approved the deployment of extra 3,000 US troops to Eastern Europe to meet NATO commitments. Here’s all you need to know.
Joe Biden allocates US military troops to Eastern Europe
On Wednesday, President Biden approved the additional deployment of US military troops to Eastern Europe. While he has stated that he will not put US troops in Ukraine for fighting Russia’s takeover, the US is supplying weapons to Ukraine. “The Department of Defense will reposition certain Europe-based units further east, forward-deploy additional US-based units to Europe, and maintain the heightened state of readiness of response forces to meet commitments to NATO,” stated a senior official. “These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They are not permanent moves. They respond to current conditions,” he added.
According to media reports, about 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina will be going to Germany and Poland. And, an addition of 1,000 troops present in Germany will be repositioned to Romania. As per experts, this is Washington reinforcing its ally against a possible Russian invasion. As of now, Moscow has amassed over 100,000 troops near the borders of Ukraine. However, Russia is denying plans of invading its neighbor. However, Russia is ready to take unknown measures if their demands are not met by NATO.
How is the US helping Ukraine with the crisis?
So far, the US has around 75,000 to 80,000 troops permanently commissioned in Europe as a part of its regular rotation. Despite the small signs of diplomatic path paving in, Washington and Moscow have been at confrontation over the Ukraine issue. Putin, in his first public comment ver the issue blamed the US and its allies for ignoring Russia’s demands, concerned about security.
While Moscow is willing to talk to ensure tensions subdue, Putin’s remarks suggest that the Russian invasion is not unlikely without taking a chance at diplomacy. Ukraine has been fighting Russian-backed insurgencies in two of the separatist regions since 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea. The insurgencies have taken over 13,00 lives so far.