A technician sweeps snow from the wings of a US fighter deployed to Estonia as part of NATO forces. /
The 3,000 US military units join the 8,500 that are on high alert to be deployed at any time
The cavalry to the rescue. In Kiev the cafes are still full, but in Warsaw and Bucharest they have started packing for their children and preparing their own evacuation route. For them it will be the reinforcement troops that the Pentagon dispatched this Wednesday, destined not to fight against Russia inside Ukraine, spokesman John Kirby clarified, but to reassure the citizens of Eastern Europe that remain within the North Atlantic Alliance .
Romania will be the first to receive reinforcements. The 1,000 US troops it will receive belong to the Second Cavalry Regiment, stationed at the German base in Vilseck and armed not with horses but with armored tanks. The regiment will join 900 other US troops already in Romania as part of the regular rotation.
The other two thousand promised troops, as part of the detachment of 3,000 announced this Wednesday, will travel from Fort Bragg (North Carolina) and will go mainly to Poland, the country traumatized by the Nazi invasion that gave rise to World War II, which he sees in Putin a new Hitler, and in the West’s attempts at negotiation, a repetition of the move. Specifically, 1,700 American fighters from the 82nd Air-Ground Division will protect that country from possible Russian aggression, but another 300 from the 18th Air-Ground Corps will travel to Germany, including the Joint Headquarters Unit.
“Together, this force is trained and equipped for a variety of missions to deter aggression and reassure our allies during a period of heightened risk,” the State Department said in a statement.
The Pentagon, for its part, assures that it only complies with its commitment to assist allies in security and “ensure a robust defense of NATO territory”, in accordance with the “solemn” commitment acquired in article 5 of the Treaty of North Atlantic. “Until we see Russia stop preparing for potential aggression, it is only prudent to prepare for deterrence and defense,” State Department spokesman Ned Price insisted.
His government says it is prepared to reassess the situation and back down if necessary in case Russia eases tensions by withdrawing forces from the border with Ukraine. However, the American government has decided not to speak again of the “imminent threat” of an invasion, considering that these terms “are not constructive”, which forces us to consider whether they ever were. The Ukrainian government of Volodimir Zelensky has been highly critical of the “hysteria” in the West, while Russia insists that it has no intention of invading the neighboring country. Zelensky swears that this war will not be between Ukraine and Russia, but that it will drag down all of Europe, but the US and its allies prefer to make clear the distinctions of what their international obligations are.
The Pentagon has been very clear in describing this shipment of troops to Eastern Europe as “an unequivocal signal” to Putin and the world that “the US is ready to defend its allies.” However, it frames this troop movement in a context of “military maneuvers”, similar to the terms used by Russia to define its own. The 3,000 troops announced Wednesday are in addition to the 8,500 who are on high alert, ready to deploy, and even the 200 Florida National Guard who are in Ukraine training local forces.
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