After intelligence warnings of Russian military might invade Ukraine anytime, the Biden administration ordered an additional 3,000 troops to central Europe.
According to a top Defense Department official, the deployment forms part of an American effort to redeploy its firepower on Europe amid growing fears about widespread war. Over the last two weeks, President Joe Biden has moved troops, naval ships and warplanes into eastern Europe in reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military escalation.
In a show of force not seen since the Cold War, Russia has positioned more than 100,000 troops in several countries along Ukraine’s borders. To resolve the crisis, the Biden Administration initially tried to use diplomacy. However, the U.S. has been forced to devise more aggressive strategies to stop Putin due to the lack of progress.
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A decision was made to send 3,000 paratroopers out of the 82.http://nd. Airborne Division into Poland is the latest move by the White House to demonstrate solidarity with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies concerned over Russia’s massing combat power. Biden on Feb. 2 ordered an Army Stryker unit of 1,000 soldiers to travel from Germany through Romania. Biden also sent 300 troops and 2,000 soldiers to Poland from the 82nd Airborne Division. Romania and Poland, NATO member countries, border Ukraine in the west and south respectively. They are preparing for possible refugee flows as well as frontier security concerns should Moscow invade the region.
According to the U.S., no U.S. troops will be sent to Ukraine. This country is not part of NATO. Washington claims that U.S. troops will be used to reinforce allies and repel further aggression by Moscow.
Jake Sullivan (White House National Security Adviser) stated that Friday’s U.S. believe a Russian military invasion into Ukraine is possible. The campaign would start with aerial bombardment and then escalate to a ground invasion, which could threaten escape routes. “Any Americans in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible, and in any event, in the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said. “If you stay, you are assuming risk, with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave and no prospect of a U.S. military evacuation in the event of a Russian invasion.”
Sullivan said the U.S. was not certain whether Putin had made a decision to invade, but that it could happen at a moment’s notice, even during the Beijing Olympics, which ends Feb. 20. The Ukrainian government however has encouraged calm and stated that there are no reasons to panic in light of U.S. intelligence warnings about an impending invasion. Putin has maintained all along that he has no plans to move on Ukraine, but he has voiced concerns over NATO’s military expansion along its borders in recent decades.
Russia has begun naval drills at the Black Sea, and joined military exercises with Belarus this week. These forces are a small fraction of the Russian tanks, troops and artillery now surrounding Ukraine. Biden spoke with NATO leaders in France, Germany Germany, Italy Britain Canada NATO, The European Union, Poland, and Romania on Friday, according to the White House.
Since Russia started moving troops along its border, the White House and European allies struggled to find a response. Putin attempted to use this deployment against the U.S. in order to decrease U.S. troops, arms and influence in Central and Eastern Europe. Although the U.S. has tried to solve the crisis diplomatically, Russia and Washington have not been able to reach a consensus. In recent days, Putin has insisted “the principal Russian concerns turned out to be ignored” by the U.S. and NATO nations.
The White House has warned Putin that the U.S. and allies will enact a sweeping package of sanctions designed to cripple Russia’s economy rather than take military action against it if it invades Ukraine. The U.S. currently has about 200 troops in Ukraine. Florida National Guard members have been training the forces in the west of Ukraine away from those areas in control by pro-Russian separatists. There are more than 80.000 troops in the United States.
Learn More Untold Story: The Ukraine Crisis
The Pentagon has alerted more than 8,500 U.S. service members for possible deployment to bolster NATO allies’ defenses, but not for a fighting role. After the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden has made clear that he has no plans to send combat troops into Ukraine, though he’s sent more than $600 million of security assistance to its government over the past year.
Unlike Afghanistan, the U.S. has no plan to lead a military effort to expel citizens from Ukraine if Russia invades. Sullivan stated that Americans should evacuate immediately. “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sullivan said. “But the risk is now high enough, and the threat is now immediate enough, that this is what prudence demands.”
