Biden Approved Sending Seven Thousand More Troops to Germany

President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of an additional 7,000 U.S. troops to Germany, bringing the total number of U.S. troops sent to Europe this month to 12,000. The additional contingent being deployed to Germany will include an armored brigade combat team with “appropriate resources and assets,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The troops will depart “in the coming days,” the statement said.

The announcement came shortly after Biden told reporters at the White House that he planned to send additional troops.

“I have also discussed with Secretary of Defense Loyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to prepare for additional steps if they prove necessary to protect our NATO allies and support the greatest military alliance in the history of the world, NATO,” Biden said.

The troops will not go to Ukraine and will not be “involved in the conflict,” and the purpose of their deployment is to reassure NATO allies. The decision came amid the imposition of sanctions by the United States and its allies against the Russian economy and banking system over Russian military action in Ukraine.

Russian forces fired more than 100 ballistic missiles at military targets, including airfields and ammunition depots across the country, in a multi-pronged offensive that began shortly before dawn. Ground forces and aircraft also violated Ukraine’s borders from the east near Kharkov, from the south near Odessa, and from the north near Belarus. The attack was accompanied by air strikes and helicopter attacks.

In response, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday gave U.S. General Todd Walters, the supreme commander of NATO’s combined forces in Europe, the authority to mobilize a 40,000-strong NATO response force.

Speaking in Brussels, Stoltenberg said the alliance “has decided to activate its defense plans at the request of our top military commander, General Todd Walters,” which “will allow forces and assets, including the NATO Response Force, to be deployed where they are needed.”

According to the Pentagon’s preliminary estimates, the Russian operation is still in its early stages, and not all of the Russian troops stationed near Ukraine’s borders have entered the neighboring country.