American troops landed in Poland on Sunday, near its border with Ukraine, as part of the Biden administration’s deployment of troops to co...
American troops landed in Poland on Sunday, near its border with Ukraine, as part of the Biden administration’s deployment of troops to countries near Ukraine.
The Biden administration has said a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent, even as Russia proclaims it has no such intentions.
However, Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops around three sides of Ukraine, leading multiple European nations to dispatch support to Ukraine in fear that Russia will invade soon.
On Sunday, the first of a force of 1,700 U.S. troops arrived at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport about 56 miles from Poland’s boundary with Ukraine, according to the Associated Press.
“Our national contribution here in Poland shows our solidarity with all of our allies here in Europe, and obviously, during this period of uncertainty, we know that we are stronger together,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the deployment’s commander.
“Deterrence and solidarity are the best response to Moscow’s aggressive policy, to the aggressive attempt at reconstructing the Russian empire,” Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said.
A joint NATO response is “the best response to a threat, the only method of assuring security to Poland and to other NATO countries on the alliance’s eastern flank,” Blaszczak continued.
Although Russia’s troop buildup is a matter of record, its intentions remain hazy.
On Friday, State Department spokesman Ned Price advanced claims that Russia was inciting violence and unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked Price to provide hard evidence of those claims.
“We told you a few weeks ago that we have information indicating Russia also has already positioned a group of operatives to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine,” Price claimed.
“This is like, crisis actors? Really? This is like, Alex Jones territory you’re getting into,” Lee responded, referencing the colorful Texas “Infowars” host prone to making similar claims of “false flag” operations.
Price said he could not provide details for the State Department’s claims because he had to protect “confidential sources and methods.”
A U.S. assessment said Russia was 70 percent ready to invade and predicted a death toll of 50,000 people, with up to 5 million more people displaced when the invasion takes place. The assessment also said Russia would take two days to control the capital of Kyiv, according to the Washington Post.
Russian leaders have replied to that with scorn.
“Madness and scaremongering continues..what if we would say that US could seize London in a week and cause 300K civilian deaths?” Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, tweeted.
Russian legislator Artem Turov said the U.S. was “doing everything possible to fan a new conflict,” according to the Washington Post.
No comments