President Joe Biden is sending about 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Poland and Germany this week and shifting roughly 1,000 Germany-based soldiers to Romania, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Biden has said he will not put American troops in Ukraine to fight any Russian incursion, although the United States is supplying Ukraine with weapons to defend itself.
"These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine," said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, reaffirming the American commitment to the defence of the alliance laid out in Article 5 of the NATO treaty. "They are going to ensure the robust defence of our NATO allies."
Kirby said the deployments would take place in the coming days and be under U.S. command. While he characterized them as not being permanent moves, he did say, in response to a reporter question, that — depending on Russian actions — "they could very well be preliminary steps."
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The military moves come amid stalled talks with Russia over its military buildup at Ukraine's borders. And they underscore growing fears across Europe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to invade Ukraine. Smaller NATO countries on the alliance's eastern flank worry they could be next, although Russia has said it has no intention of initiating conflict and is willing to continue diplomatic efforts.
Biden had said recently that he intended to provide additional U.S. forces to NATO allies in eastern Europe as reassurance of an American commitment as treaty allies.
The Pentagon also has put about 8,500 U.S.-based troops on higher alert for possible deployment to Europe as additional reassurance to allies, and officials have indicated the possibility that additional units could be placed on higher alert soon. The U.S. already has between 75,000 and 80,000 troops in Europe as permanently stationed forces and as part of regular rotations in place such as Poland.
"These movements are unmistakable signals to the world that we stand ready to reassure our NATO allies and deter and defend against any aggression," said Kirby.
Last week, the Canadian government announced it was extending and expanding the existing military training mission in Ukraine, Operation Unifier, adding another 60 troops to the 200 already on the ground. The option to add an additional 140 is also on the table.
As part of last week's package, the Department of National Defence (DND) said it will also provide Ukraine with non-lethal military equipment, including body armour, metal detectors, thermal binoculars, laser range finders, tactical medical bags and surveillance technology. Lt.-Col. Luc-Frederic Gilbert told CBC News on Tuesday that the equipment is on its way and will arrive this week. He would not say which elements of the Ukrainian military will receive the gear.
Fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine have mounted in recent months, after Putin deployed more than 100,000 troops to areas near Ukraine's borders — including in neighbouring Belarus — backed by tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes. Russian officials have insisted that Moscow has no intention of invading.
Two Republican senators had differing responses to the U.S. announcement. Lindsey Graham said he supported the move in order to "stand firmly against Putin's efforts to divide the alliance," while Josh Hawley decried it as a mistake, stating that it was "just another foreign crisis that this administration has blundered into."
U.S., Russia appear to be exchanging proposals
A Spanish newspaper on Wednesday reported that the United States could be willing to enter into an agreement with Russia to ease tensions over missile deployments in Europe if Moscow steps back from the brink in Ukraine.
The daily El Pais published two documents purported to be written replies from the United States and NATO last week to Russia's proposals for a new security arrangement in Europe.
The U.S. document, marked as a confidential "non-paper," said that the United States would be willing to discuss in consultation with its NATO partners "a transparency mechanism to confirm the absences of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Aegis Ashore sites in Romania and Poland."
That would happen on condition that Russia "offers reciprocal transparency measures on two ground-launched missiles bases of our choosing in Russia."
Aegis Ashore is a system for defending against short- or intermediate-range missiles. Russia argues the site in Romania could be easily adapted to fire cruise missiles instead of interceptors, which ram their target and do not carry warheads, a claim that Washington has denied.
Putin again mentioned the possibility Tuesday, saying that "there are MK-41 launchers there that could be configured for firing Tomahawks." He said they "are offensive systems that could reach thousands of kilometres into our territory. Isn't that a threat to us?"
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Putin on Tuesday accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia's central security demands but he said that Moscow is willing to talk more to ease tensions.
The U.S. underlined after its written proposals in the leaked document that "progress can only be achieved on these issues in an environment of de-escalation with respect to Russia's threatening actions toward Ukraine."
Kirby would not speak to specific claims in the Spanish report but confirmed the existence of the document.
Notable in its absence from the leaked documents is any mention of Ukraine's hopes of joining NATO. Putin has demanded that NATO stop taking in any new members and withdraw its troops and equipment from countries that joined the alliance since 1997, almost half its ranks.
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NATO membership plans for Ukraine and Georgia have been on hold for years, although NATO continues to support them and promote reforms.
Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, and in 2014 annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Around 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict that still simmers in eastern Ukraine.
Putin is scheduled to travel to Beijing on Thursday ahead of the Winter Olympics, meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping while there.
