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A large contingent of US troops landed in Poland on Sunday as part of a reinforcement over tensions with Russia, with their commander saying they aimed to thwart “any intention of war” and to defend NATO if necessary.
The paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army based in Fort Bragg in the United States landed around 1:00 pm at Rzeszow Airport in southeastern Poland.
The additional troops “are here to increase readiness, interoperability in all areas with our Polish allies and, if necessary, to protect every part of NATO,” the division’s commander-in-chief, Chris Donahue, told reporters at the airport.
The United States last week announced the deployment of 3,000 additional US troops to Germany and Eastern Europe as part of efforts to push Russia to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the additional US contingent of 1,700 troops would be based “in southeastern Poland on the east side of NATO”.
Poland, a country of the former communist bloc bordering Ukraine and joining NATO in 1999, already hosts about 4,500 rotating US troops.
Preparations for the final arrivals have continued since last week and some soldiers landed on Saturday. Blaszczak said there would be more arrivals “in the coming hours”.
The United States has also said it will deploy 8,500 troops on “increased” readiness for possible deployment in the event that the NATO Response Force is activated in response to the crisis in Ukraine.
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