Biden orders forces to Europe amid stalled Ukraine talks

President Joe Biden is ordering 2000 USbased troops to Poland and Germany and shifting 1000 more from Germany to Romania demonstrating to both allies and foes Americas commitment to NATOs eastern flank amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine the Pentagon said ThursdayRussia fired back with a sharply worded objection calling the deployments unfounded and ldquodestructiverdquo Russian President Vladimir Putin also had a new telephone exchange with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson But readouts from both governments showed no progress with Putin saying the West was giving no ground on Russias security concerns and Johnson expressing deep concern about Russias ldquohostile activityrdquo on the Ukrainian border referring to Putins buildup of 100000 troops thereThe Biden administration is aiming to demonstrate US resolve without undermining efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis Biden notably has not sent military reinforcements to the three Baltic countries on NATOs eastern flank mdash Estonia Latvia and Lithuania mdash that are former states of the Soviet UnionRussian invasion ldquoimminentrdquoNo US troops are being sent to Ukraine and White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday said the administration has stopped calling a Russian invasion ldquoimminentrdquo because that word implies Washington knows Putin has made a decision to invade Officials say Putins intentions remain unclearHowever increasing US troop levels in Eastern Europe is exactly what Putin has said he finds intolerable along with the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO The US already has several thousand troops in Poland and Romania is host to a NATO missile defense system that Russia considers a threat The US presence in the region has increased since 2014 when Russia made its first invasion of UkrainePentagon press secretary John Kirby said the soontodeploy US forces are intended to temporarily bolster US and allied defensive positions ldquoThese are not permanent movesrdquo he said stressing that the purpose is to reassure allies Kirby said Russia had continued its buildup even in the previous 24 hours despite US urgings that it deescalateIn Moscow a senior official said the US movements will complicate the crisis ldquoThe unfounded destructive steps will only fuel military tensions and narrow the field for political decisionsrdquo Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agencyUkraine plays down fears of a Russian attackUkraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba again played down fears of a Russian attack in a call with reporters but said that if Russia makes moves that could signal an imminent invasion Ukraine would react as necessaryOf the 2000 US troops newly deploying from Fort Bragg North Carolina about 1700 are members of the 82nd Airborne Division infantry brigade who will go to Poland The other 300 are with the 18th Airborne Corps and will go to Germany as what the Pentagon called a ldquojoint task forcecapable headquartersrdquoPolands Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter that the deployment to his country is ldquoa strong signal of solidarity in response to the situation in Ukrainerdquo The 1000 US troops going to Romania are members of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment based at Vilseck Germany They will augment about 900 already in Romania Kirby saidThe cavalry deployments purpose is to ldquodeter aggression and enhance our defensive capabilities in frontline allied states during this period of elevated riskrdquo the Pentagon said in a separate written statement ldquoIts important that we send a strong signal to Mr Putin and to the worldrdquo of the US commitment to NATO Kirby saidNATO commandHe said France has decided it too will send troop reinforcements to Romania under NATO command and he noted that a number of other European NATO countries are considering adding forces on NATOs eastern flank Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron touched base in a phone call Wednesday nightNATO has been beefing up its defenses around allies in Eastern Europe since late last year Denmark for example said it was sending a frigate and F16 warplanes to Lithuania and Spain was sending four fighter jets to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join NATO naval forces The Netherlands plans to send two F35 fighter aircraft to Bulgaria in April and is putting a ship and landbased units on standby for NATOs Response ForceBiden 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 and seeking to reassure allies in Eastern Europe that Washington will fulfill its treaty obligation to defend them in the event they are attackedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever