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The first U.S. troops arrived in Poland on Saturday to reinforce NATO allies in Eastern Europe, Poland’s Defense Ministry said, amid fears that Russia could invade neighboring Ukraine.
“As announced, the first elements of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division brigade battle group have arrived in Poland,” a Polish military spokesman said.
U.S. troops arrived at the Rzeszow military base in southeastern Poland, near its border with Ukraine, after U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered the deployment of 1,700 troops there. About 4,000 U.S. troops have been stationed in Poland on a rotational basis since 2017.
Biden also ordered troops to Romania and Germany, bringing the total number of additional troops to nearly 3,000.
U.S. Army sources said earlier that about 1,700 U.S. service members, mainly from the 82nd Airborne Division, would deploy from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland “in the next few days.”
The first contingent of additional U.S. troops arrived in Germany on Friday.
U.S. troops from the 18th Airborne Corps arrived Friday in Wiesbaden, Germany, according to the U.S. Army European Command, which added that they would establish a headquarters in Germany to support the 1,700 paratroopers ordered to deploy to Poland.
The United States placed another 8,500 U.S. troops on high alert in January to deploy to Europe if necessary. They remain on high alert and NATO defense ministers are expected to discuss adding more reinforcements at their next meeting Feb. 16-17.
Two prominent European leaders are scheduled to travel to the capitals of Russia and Ukraine in the coming days for talks with their counterparts on diplomatic measures to ease rising tensions over Moscow’s possible invasion of Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due in Moscow on Monday and in Kiev on Tuesday. The following week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to visit Kiev on February 14 and Moscow on February 15.
According to a New York Times report, while Russian troops along the border are not ready to launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine, sections of its army “appear to be in the final stages of preparation for military action if the Kremlin orders it.”
Moscow has sent an additional 10,000 troops to the region, The Times said, in addition to the thousands of soldiers already deployed in the area.
Meanwhile, the White House dismissed a Friday meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the leaders unveiled a strategic alliance against the United States.
“What we have control over is our own relationships and protecting our own values, and we also look for ways to work with countries even where we disagree,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during her briefing.
At the meeting, Xi backed Putin’s demands to end NATO expansion and obtain security guarantees from the West, issues that have led to Russia’s standoff with the United States and its allies over Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow expressed support for Beijing’s position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
The two leaders met at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday afternoon, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, hours before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which diplomats from the United States, Britain and other countries are boycotting over human rights abuses.
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