As the diplomatic agreement reached last week to calm things down in Ukraine unravels, the U.S. is sending about 600 ground troops to Eastern Europe to “strengthen NATO’s defense plans and capabilities, and to demonstrate our continued commitment to collective defense in reinforcing our NATO allies in Central and Eastern Europe,” says Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby, who attributes this renewed “resolve” to “Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”
The Pentagon reports that a company-sized element of the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team — about 150 soldiers — should be arriving in Poland today to begin a bilateral infantry exercise with Polish troops, and about 450 additional soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based 173rd ABCT will be arriving for similar exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia “in the coming days.” They should be in all four countries by April 28, and then the U.S. will rotate fresh troops in for more exercises.
More from the American Forces Press Service:
Since Russia’s aggression in Ukraine began, the admiral said, the United States has been constantly looking for ways to reassure its allies and partners of the nation’s commitment to the collective defense principles in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
These bilateral exercises were conceived in part to do just that, Kirby said.
The message to the people of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, is that “the United States takes seriously our obligations under Article 5 of the NATO alliance, even though these aren’t NATO exercises,” he said.
“It’s a very tangible representation of our commitment to our security obligations in Europe … and we encourage our NATO partners to likewise look for opportunities of their own to do this same kind of thing for one another,” the admiral continued.
If there’s any message to Moscow, Kirby said, it’s the same as that being sent to the people of the Baltic region: “We take our obligations very, very seriously on the continent of Europe.”
The exercises are more than symbolic, the admiral said. The commitment to putting troops on the ground for an extended period and conducting exercises is “not insignificant,” he noted.
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The situation remains tense along Ukraine’s eastern border, he said. “Nothing we’ve seen out of Moscow, nothing we’ve seen out of Russia or their armed forces is de-escalating the tension [or] is making things any more stable in Ukraine or on the continent of Europe,” the admiral said.
“What would be very helpful is if they removed their forces off that border and took concrete actions to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine,” he said.
In other military moves, the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (below) that was buzzed by Russian fighter aircraft is wrapping up its rotation in the Black Sea, being replaced in its “reassurance mission” by the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Taylor (lead photo) which returned to the Black Sea yesterday after completing repairs in Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece.
Photos: DOD
