The Pentagon today was convinced that Russia has begun the invasion of Ukraine, in light of the moves it has taken in recent days.
Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told a news conference that Moscow has sent additional troops to the Donetsk area in eastern Ukraine and that these troops have not advanced beyond this area. “We can’t be too specificabout the number or what kind of formations they have there, or their capabilities, but we really believe that’s happening,” Kirby said.
He added that the US suspects that Russia will carry out some kind of action soon: “What we see is that Russian forces have continued to concentrate closer to the border and are at an advanced stage of preparation to act or carry out an action in Ukraine,” he stressed.
Kirby indicated that at this time the Pentagon believes that the Russian armed forces “are ready” to carry out at any time an attack on Ukrainian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized on the 21st the independence of the self-proclaimed separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, and has authorized the sending of troops to Donbas.
Given these steps, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday the deployment of 800 more US soldiers in the Baltic countries -Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania- to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank.
The 800 troops are part of an infantry battalion that is currently in Italy, and that will be deployed in the Baltic region. In addition, the US will transfer from Germany twenty combat helicopters AH-64 to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In parallel, the Pentagon will send to “several locations” on NATO’s eastern flank eight F-35 fighter-bombers, which are in Germany; and has given the green light for the transfer of twelve AH-64 helicopters from Greece to Poland.
These troop and equipment movements they are “temporary” and join the more than 90,000 soldiers that the US has deployed in Europe under rotating and permanent mandates.
Source: Lasexta
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