As Russia continues to threaten Ukraine with troops along the border, the U.S. military on Sunday sent fresh troops to a NATO battle group based in neighboring Poland made up of troops from Croatia, Romania and the United Kingdom.
U.S. officials are calling the mission “a pre-planned, normal rotation of forces” and said it was the 10th rotation of American troops in support of NATO’s Enhanced Foreign Presence. But the move is likely to annoy the Kremlin, which has made a broad pullback of U.S. and allied troops from Poland and other states on its borders one of its prime demands for resolving the conflict.
The U.S. contingent of the Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup-Poland will be the 1st Battalion, 185th Infantry Regiment. It is replacing the 3rd Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment. Both battalions belong to the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, made up of National Guard units located in Washington state, Oregon, and California, according to U.S. Army officials in Europe.
More than 200 pieces of heavy combat equipment from the battalion are being off-loaded at the Polish port of Gdynia, officials said.
On Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. remains committed to its NATO allies in the face of any Russian actions in Ukraine.
“Any Russian attack or further incursion into Ukraine would not only ignite conflict, it would also violate the bedroom principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination,” Mr. Austin told reporters at the Pentagon. “This is something that we’re taking very seriously both as a strong partner of Ukraine and as one of 30 members of NATO.”
President Biden has already put some 8,500 U.S. troops on high alert for possible deployment to eastern Europe as the crisis with Russia continues to play out.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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