U.S. to send thousands of troops in coming days over Ukraine tension

The United States on Wednesday announced plans to deploy thousands of additional military troops to Europe in the coming days to assure its allies in the region amid growing fears that Russia may further invade Ukraine.

The administration of President Joe Biden has also approached several major natural-gas importers in Asia, including China and Japan, about sending their fuel to Europe to address any energy shortages that may occur in the region dependent on Russia’s supplies, according to Bloomberg.

Tensions are simmering as Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has amassed around 100,000 troops on the border of Ukraine.

To reassure allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United States will send around 2,000 troops to Poland and Germany “in the next few days,” while 1,000 soldiers currently based in Germany will be moved to Romania, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a press conference.

The forces are separate from the 8,500 troops which the Defense Department said last week have been placed on “heightened alert” mainly to become part of the NATO Response Force. Currently, the troops on high alert have not been activated for deployment to Europe, according to Kirby.

He emphasized that the just-announced additional military deployment is “not permanent” and the troops are “not going to fight in Ukraine,” which is not a member of NATO, although it aspires to join.

But the spokesman said the deployment is designed to “respond to the current security environment.” He cited “clear evidence every day” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “continues to destabilize the environment by adding more forces into the western part of his country and along Belarus.”

Asked whether there is a risk of any conflict between Russia and Ukraine spilling over into countries under the NATO umbrella, Kirby said, “We don’t exactly know what Mr. Putin has in mind.”

“The one thing that we’ve learned specifically over the last 20 years is armed conflict is difficult to predict with any great specificity,” he said, adding that the United States wants to send a “clear signal” that it is not going to tolerate aggression against its NATO allies.

On efforts to beef up energy security in Europe should a conflict over Ukraine erupt, Bloomberg said the Biden administration has spoken to officials in Japan, South Korea and India as well as China. The engagement with China has been limited, the news agency added, citing people familiar with the matter.

The United States and its European allies have been warning Russia of the “severe consequences” it would face, including economic and financial sanctions, if it uses military force against Ukraine.

But concerns remain that Moscow may cut supplies to the region as a possible retaliatory measure, using its leverage as a supplier of about one-third of Europe’s natural gas.

The United States has also been talking to major natural gas producers to see if they can surge output and allocate the additional volume to European buyers.

But unlike with oil, the global gas market has little spare capacity and no producer has said it can pump much more at short notice, according to Bloomberg.