Biden Approves Troop Deployments to Eastern Europe

President Biden approved plans this morning to send thousands of U.S. troops to Central and Eastern Europe in the coming days.

The announcement came after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended repositioning U.S. military units closer to Ukraine amid its standoff with Russia.

Late last month, the Pentagon placed 8,500 service members on “heightened alert” in response to Russia's massive military buildup on Ukraine's borders.

As CNN reports:

The deployments to Eastern Europe, which were first reported by CNN, are a show of support to NATO allies feeling threatened by Russia's military moves near Ukraine, US officials said. The troops are expected to deploy “in the coming days,” the officials said.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the deployments include roughly 2,000 troops from the United States to Poland and Germany in the coming days. In addition, approximately 1,000 troops currently based in Germany are being deployed to Romania.

Kirby told reporters that the deployments were not permanent and that U.S. troops wouldn't fight in Ukraine.

However, he added that Moscow had escalated tensions even within the past 24 hours.

Kirby said that the troops being deployed are separate and in addition to the 8,500 US troops that were placed on heightened alert last week that could be moved to Europe to support NATO's response force if it's activated.

NATO's rapid-response force has not yet been activated.

Biden also said last Friday that he would be moving the forces “in the near term,” as Russia has continued to build up forces near Ukraine, sparking fears of a renewed invasion even as diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions have continued.