President Biden is directing the Pentagon to deploy more than 3,000 American troops to bolster the defense of European allies in the first major movement of U.S. forces in Russia’s military standoff with Ukraine, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Biden is sending roughly 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Poland and Germany this week and repositioning about 1,000 troops that are part of a Germany-based infantry Stryker squadron to Romania, on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank closest to Russia, the officials said.
The Pentagon expects to make other moves of forces inside Europe, and has ordered several thousand more troops to be on standby to deploy, beyond the 8,500 troops given similar orders last week, the officials said.
There are about 900 U.S. troops already in Romania, which has agreed in recent days to host French troops as well.
Last week, Mr. Austin placed at least 8,500 U.S. troops on “Prepare-to-deploy orders,” which requires troops to be ready to deploy quickly, in some instances, within hours after being activated.
Some of the troops that are being activated to Europe this week are being drawn from that larger number of troops already identified on standby, the officials said.
Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, is moving troops and surface-to-air missile systems into Belarus, which borders Ukraine and several NATO members, and has also moved several ships near Ukraine’s shores in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
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