Thousands of US troops on standby for deployment over Ukraine crisis
The United States calls for diplomacy one day and resorts to military action the next, sending thousands of troops to Europe on top of the thousands that are already there.
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A US soldier with the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division trains in Poland at Camp Karliki in Zagan.
The US Ministry of Defense has ordered thousands of additional troops to be on standby to deploy in Europe in light of soaring tensions over Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing US officials.
The United States already has 8,500 soldiers on heightened alert within the continent, but none of the new forces have been authorized to enter Ukraine, and all of the deployments are reportedly "temporary."
President Joe Biden instructed the Pentagon to deploy some 3,000 US soldiers to Europe, with 2,000 being sent to Poland and Germany this week, the WSJ said.
The US is also reshuffling some of its troops, as it will be repositioning some 1,000 soldiers based in Germany to Romania, which Washington attributed to a request from Bucharest.
The Pentagon argued that the "current situation" requires Washington to reinforce NATO's posture on the eastern flank.
However, the DoD asserted that these troops would not be combatants in Ukraine. Instead, they would "ensure the protection of NATO allies."
The US actions come despite the Pentagon admitting that it does not know if Russia made its final decision to invade Ukraine.
"The Department of Defense will reposition certain Europe-based units further east, forward-deploy additional US-based units to Europe, and maintain the heightened state of readiness of response forces" to meet commitments to NATO, a senior official of President Joe Biden's administration said.
Despite the United States constantly calling for taking a diplomatic path out of the crisis, Washington's actions reflect a completely different tone, from sending arms to Kyiv to strongarming Germany out of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline deal with Russia and now the positioning of US troops all over Europe.
Tensions are rising between Russia and the West in light of NATO accusations that Moscow is planning on invading Ukraine, alleging that the Kremlin has amassed 100,000 soldiers along Ukraine's borders.
Kyiv and Moscow have denied the western fearmongering, saying there was no such invasion anywhere on their radars.
Moscow has been demanding a written commitment that Ukraine would never be able to join NATO and that the alliance would not place any strategic military equipment in certain countries in the region surrounding Russia.
The United States late last month delivered a reply in coordination with NATO allies, and Russia has since then stressed that its concerns had been ignored.
