Pentagon confirms 3,000 troops to be sent to Eastern European countries

The Pentagon on Wednesday confirmed the deployment of 3,000 US troops to allied countries in eastern Europe amid tensions with Russia over Ukraine. US defence department spokesman John Kirby told a news conference that 1,000 troops will be deployed to Romania, while another 2,000 will be sent to Poland and Germany.

"The current situation demands that we strengthen the deterrent and defensive posture on NATO's eastern flank," Kirby said. In the case of Romania, the US will redeploy 1,000 troops currently stationed in Germany to Romanian territory "in the coming days".

"It's a strike squadron and a cavalry unit that are designed to deploy on short notice and move quickly once they're in place," the spokesman said, adding that these troops will be added to the 900 troops the US currently has in Romania. In parallel, some 2,000 military personnel, who are now on US soil, will travel to Europe in the coming days.

On one side will be members of the 82nd Airborne Division, which will deploy an infantry combat team to Poland. In response to a question from a reporter, Kirby clarified that most of those 2,000 troops will be going to Poland. On the other hand, the 18 Airborne Corps will send a task force to Germany.

This group "is trained and equipped for a series of missions to deter aggression and reaffirm our commitment to our allies", said Kirby, who stressed that these will be "temporary" and not permanent missions, and that they will not go to fight in Ukraine.

The Pentagon recalled that apart from these forces, the US maintains 8,500 soldiers in its territory on "high alert", who are ready to be mobilised, but that for the moment they are not going to do so.

Kirby also specified that the troops being sent to Romania will be under US command, without specifying whether those going to Poland and Germany will be under US or NATO command. He recalled that the 8,500 who are on "high alert" in the US would be deployed under the Atlantic Alliance Response Force.

Tensions have soared in the past month over the concentration of more than 100,000 Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Moscow has repeatedly repeated that it does not want a war with Kiev and that it does not threaten Ukraine.