Rzeszow:
The first US troops to reinforce NATO allies in Eastern Europe amid a Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine arrived on Saturday at the Rzeszow military base in southeastern Poland.
A small plane carrying what a Polish military source said were US chain of command personnel landed at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in the morning as preparations continued at the base, near Poland’s border with Ukraine.
TV footage showed temporary housing being prepared at the G2A Arena in the nearby town of Jasionka, while workers could be seen building a fence around the site.
“As announced, the first elements of the brigade battlegroup of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division have arrived in Poland,” a Polish military spokesman said.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden ordered nearly 3,000 additional troops to Poland and Romania to protect Eastern Europe from a possible spillover from the Ukraine crisis.
About 1,700 military personnel, mostly paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, will be sent to Poland “in the coming days” from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US military sources said.
According to the Pentagon, a Stryker squadron of about 1,000 American servicemen, based in the German city of Vilseck, will be sent to Romania.
The first additional American troops arrived in Germany on Friday.
Russia denies plans to invade Ukraine but has deployed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders and says it could take unspecified military measures if its demands are not met, including a NATO pledge never to Kiev to allow.
The new plan goes beyond the 8,500 troops the Pentagon put on alert last month to deploy in Europe if needed. NATO defense ministers are expected to discuss further reinforcements at their next meeting on February 16-17.
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