US sends another 500 troops to Europe

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over the weekend ordered more U.S. troops and military equipment sent to Europe as Russia presses its attack on Ukraine, a senior defense official said Monday.

Austin ordered roughly 500 additional troops to Poland, Romania and Germany "to respond to the current security environment in light of Russia's renewed aggression against Ukraine" and to bolster NATO's eastern flank, the official told reporters.

They stressed President Biden's assertion that no American troops will be sent to Ukraine and that the additional forces are "enablers" going to NATO allies "to shore up capabilities that are already there."

As part of the new deployment, KC-135 refueling aircraft will be sent to Greece, though it was unclear how many aircraft would be sent or where they would come from.

Additionally, an air support operation center will be deployed to Poland and Romania, and an ordinance company and a maintenance company will be sent to Germany for "additional logistic support to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division" already deployed there, the official said.

They could not provide a breakdown of how many troops will go where and would not rule out more forces being sent later.

The U.S. military now has about 100,000 personnel stationed in Europe on either a rotational or a permanent basis as Russia's violent incursion into Ukraine comes up on its two-week mark.

The Biden administration has emphatically rejected the idea of sending U.S. forces to help Ukraine battle the Kremlin, with the thinking that such a move would set off another world war. But as the violence threatens to spill over into neighboring NATO countries, the U.S. has deployed or repositioned more than 15,000 American soldiers and airmen to Germany, Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

Austin decided to send the extra 500 troops and military equipment after conversations he had with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and U.S. European Command head Gen. Tod Wolters "that these additional enablers would be useful for the forces that are already forward as well as those that were being repositioned inside Europe," the official said.

"One of the things that we've [talked about] is how important protecting NATO territory is, and that includes NATO airspace," the official said. "Now that the airspace is contested in Ukraine, again, I think it's safe to assume that these assets ... will prove helpful to our ability to make sure that we're protecting NATO airspace."