Joe Biden is increasing the U.S. military’s presence in Eastern Europe, as the risk from Russia stays at the leading edge of the global community’s mind. Biden, in Madrid, Spain, for a NATO summit, revealed the establishment of a long-term V Corps Headquarters Forward Command Post in Poland, while the armed force will keep an extra rotational Brigade Combat Team in Europe, which will be placed in Romania.
There will be improved rotational releases to Baltic nations, the United States and Spain consented to increase the variety of destroyers stationed in Rota from 4 to 6, the U.S. will station 2 squadrons of F-35 fighter jets in the United Kingdom, and the U.S. will station extra air defense systems in Germany and Italy, according to a White House fact sheet.
“This is a significant decision precisely because of the changed security environment and the recognition that the United States needs to have a longer-term capability to sustain our presence, our training, our activities, and our support to the countries of the eastern flank,” said Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs for the Department of Defense.
Today’s NATO Summit comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 5th month. In the days prior to the top, Russia’s military introduced a rocket attack that struck a hectic shopping center in main Ukraine, eliminating almost 20 individuals at a time when more than a thousand individuals were within. Ukrainian and Western leaders decried it as a fear attack and war crime. Russia denied striking the shopping mall and contested that there were scores of deaths.
“The United States and our allies, we’re going to step up,” Biden said at the beginning of the summit. “We’re proving that NATO is more needed now than it ever has been, and it’s as important as it ever has been.”
Since Russia illegally invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Biden has upped the armed force’s presence in Europe from approximately 80,000 soldiers to more than 100,000.
Ahead of the summit, Turkey, Finland, and Sweden agreed to a deal that would end Turkey’s opposition to the latter 2’s entry into the alliance. Turkey had actually been the only nation standing in the way of Finland and Sweden’s ascension into NATO based upon concerns about assistance for terrorism.
