The U.S. military in Europe is sending four company-sized infantry units, a total of about 600 soldiers, to Eastern Europe, the latest effort to reassure NATO allies in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.
Four countries — Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — each will receive a company of paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based in Vicenza, Italy, said Pentagon spokesman Rear. Adm. John Kirby.
U.S. European Command will maintain a rotation of ground forces in those countries for at least the next several months. The companies will conduct live-fire training exercises with local military forces for about one month, then will depart and be replaced by another U.S. Army company, Kirby said.
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What we’re after here is persistent presence, a persistent rotational presence,” Kirby said.
The deployments are “the first in a series of expanded U.S. land forces training activities” in Eastern Europe that will be announced in the coming week, Kirby said.
“Since Russian aggression in Ukraine, we have been constantly looking for ways to reassure our allies and partners … of our commitment to Article 5,” Kirby said, referring to the key element of the NATO alliance treaty that states an attack on one of the 28 member countries will be considered an attack on all.
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