By The FirstTension is building and Biden is making moves.
According to the Hill, President Biden plans to send U.S. forces to Eastern Europe in the “near term” amid growing fears of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I’ll be moving troops to Eastern Europe in the NATO countries in the near term,” Biden told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “Not too many.”
“Biden’s comments are the latest sign that the White House believes a Russian invasion to be a strong possibility in the near future. Administration officials have said for more than a week a Russian invasion could be imminent, though U.S. officials have not judged that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made up his mind on invading Ukraine,” the Hill reports.
“We don’t believe that President Putin has made a final decision to use these forces against Ukraine,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters. “He clearly now has that capability.”
Russia has more than 100,000 soldiers near the Ukraine border.
“Given the type of forces that are arrayed … if that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and it would result in a significant amount of casualties,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said at a Pentagon press briefing. “You can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along roads, and so on and so forth. It would be horrific. It would be terrible. And it’s not necessary. And we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go here.”
The State Department issued the following statement Friday evening:
The security situation continues to be unpredictable due to the increased threats of Russian military action. U.S. citizens should consider departing now.
