US troop reinforcements arrive in Poland, Germany eyes sending more troops to Lithuania
US soldiers arrived in Poland on Saturday as part of NATO moves to send in extra troops over fears that Russia could invade Ukraine, a Polish army spokesman told AFP.
“The first batch has arrived at the airport in Jasionka” in southwestern Poland, Major Przemyslaw Lipczynski said, adding that the bulk of a contingent of 1,700 US soldiers would follow “soon.”
He said the soldiers who arrived Saturday were from the 82nd Airborne Division.
“Our Corps’ presence serves to bolster existing US forces in Europe and demonstrates our commitment to our NATO Allies and Partners,” added Captain Matt Visser, spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps, which includes the 82nd division.
The corps was made up of “combat capable forces who stand ready to enhance the Alliance’s ability to deter and defeat Russian aggression,” the US statement added.
Washington said last week it would send about 3,000 additional troops to eastern Europe to defend NATO members against any “aggression.”
Washington is sending 2,000 troops stationed in the US. They are being flown to Germany and Poland. Another 1,000 already in Germany are being sent to Romania.
Western capitals have accused Russia of amassing 100,000 troops on the borders of pro-Western Ukraine in preparation for an invasion and have vowed to impose devastating sanctions on Moscow if it attacks. Russia has denied planning to invade Ukraine despite its troop buildup.
In Berlin, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Germany is considering deploying additional troops to Lithuania as tensions remained high over Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine.
In an interview with the Funke media group to be published online on Sunday and in newspapers on Monday, Lambrecht said Germany was “already making an important contribution in Lithuania” by leading a NATO battlegroup.
“As a matter of principle, additional troops are available as reinforcement, and we are in talks with Lithuania at the moment to find out what exactly would make sense in this regard,” she said.
NATO has already deployed four multinational combat units with some 5,000 troops in total in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They were sent there in response to Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine in 2014.
These so-called NATO battlegroups, led by the US, Germany, Canada and Britain, are meant to stall an attack in the region and buy time for additional NATO troops to reach the frontline.
Two US officials said on Saturday that Russia has in place about 70 percent of the combat power it believes it would need for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Lambrecht again ruled out supplying Kyiv with arms, after Ukraine’s embassy in Germany sent a list with specific requests to the foreign and defense ministries in Berlin.
The list included missile defense systems, tools for electronic warfare, night vision goggles, digital radios, radar stations and military ambulances — equipment which, in part, is already in short supply within the Germany forces.