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- The Biden administration is weighing sending up to 5,000 troops to Eastern Europe amid fears Russia will invade Ukraine.
- Troops would not be deployed to Ukraine, but to NATO-allied countries in the region.
- Meanwhile, the State Department ordered families of embassy staff in Kyiv to leave the country.
The Biden administration is weighing sending thousands of troops to Eastern Europe, the New York Times first reported, amid concerns that Russia is on the verge of invading Ukraine.
The news came as the State Department ordered the family members of employees at the US embassy in Kyiv to leave the country — an ominous development. The department is also permitting nonessential staff to leave, while urging Americans in the country to depart.
Taken together, these moves are indicative of the escalating concerns that a Russian invasion could be imminent.
As many as 5,000 troops US troops could be deployed, according to NPR, though it is unclear precisely which countries they would be sent to. Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria are reportedly being weighed as options.
NATO allies are sending more ships and fighter jets to the region in response to the crisis. “The United States has also made clear that it is considering increasing its military presence in the eastern part of the Alliance,” NATO said in a statement on Monday.
Sending US troops to Eastern Europe would represent the most serious step taken by the Biden administration to date in a bid to deter Russian aggression. The White House has generally sought to avoid taking steps that could provoke Russia up to this point.
The administration has warned that Russia would face severe economic consequences if it invades Ukraine. But President Joe Biden has said that the US would not be obligated to send troops to defend Ukraine in the event of an invasion, given the former Soviet republic is not a NATO member.
Ukraine has sought to join NATO for years, and maintains a robust partnership with the alliance. This has drawn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ire, and Kyiv’s relationship with NATO is at the center of the recent tensions. The Kremlin has blamed NATO for the crisis, framing the alliance’s expanding influence in Eastern Europe as an existential threat. Meanwhile, Russia has gathered tens of thousands of troops on the border of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has said it has no plans to invade, while resisting calls to pull troops from the border to lower the temperature.
As the US and its allies have sought a diplomatic resolution to the hostilities, Moscow has made demands for binding security guarantees — including permanently barring Ukraine from NATO. The alliance and the US have made it clear that NATO’s open door policy is non-negotiable, however.
Europe hasn’t faced a crisis on this scale since the Cold War, as concerns mount that Russian forces could further break apart a sovereign country or even seize all of it. It’s among the toughest foreign policy tests any US president has encountered in years, and is hardly the first time Russia has exhibited aggression toward Ukraine.
In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. And since that year, the Kremlin has backed rebels in a war against Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbass region. Experts warn that Putin views Ukraine as unfinished business, and wants to rid it of Western influence.
The UK foreign office on Saturday said it had information that Russia was planning to “install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine.” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the accusation in a tweet on Saturday.
Biden is set to hold a secure video call with European leaders on Monday afternoon to discuss Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders.
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