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The Pentagon on Wednesday confirmed that it is sending 3,000 U.S. troops to allied countries in Eastern Europe amid tension with Russia over Ukraine.
U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told a news conference that 1,000 military personnel will be deployed to Romania, while another 2,000 will be sent to Poland and Germany.
The U.S. will relocate 1,000 troops currently stationed in Germany to Romanian territory in the coming days.
Kirby said this is an attack squadron and a cavalry unit that is designed to deploy on short notice and move fast, adding that these troops will be added to the 900 troops the U.S. currently has in Romania.
Some 2,000 military personnel, who are now on U.S. soil, will travel in the coming days to Europe. In response to a question from a reporter, Kirby clarified that most of those 2,000 troops will be going to Poland. On the other hand, the 18th Airborne Corps will send a task force to Germany. Kirby added that this group is trained and equipped for a series of missions to deter aggression and reaffirm its commitment to the allies and that they will not go to fight in Ukraine.
The Pentagon recalled that apart from these forces, the United States maintains 8,500 soldiers on its territory on “high alert,” who are ready to be mobilized, but that for the moment they are not going to do so. Kirby also specified that the troops being sent to Romania will be under American command, without specifying whether those going to Poland and Germany will be under that command or that of NATO.
He recalled that the 8,500 who are on “high alert” in the United States would be deployed under the Atlantic Alliance Response Force. Tensions have been running high in the last month over the concentration of more than 100,000 Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Moscow has repeatedly repeated that it does not want a war with Kiev and that it does not threaten Ukraine.
