President Biden authorized the Pentagon to mobilize up to 3,000 military reservists for duty in Europe, a signal that ongoing efforts to deter Russia and reassure NATO allies have taxed active-duty forces deployed across the continent since war erupted.
It was not immediately clear when the Defense Department will send additional reservists to Europe under the new authority, which Biden announced ThursdayPentagon officials said the move would not increase the overall level of U.S. troops in Europe, which now stands at about 80,000, but would potentially alter its makeup by allowing commanders to deploy additional reservists. Units that will be deployed had not yet been identified, the officials said.
The move comes as the United States expands its security aid to Ukraine, which has totaled more than $41 billion with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, to includeand other weaponry. Despite the massive support already provided to Ukraine, the Biden administration is facing pressure to send additional equipment including fighter jets and longer-range missiles to help Ukrainian forces claw back territory in an ongoing counteroffensive.
The administration is also designating Atlantic Resolve, an operation that has enhanced the U.S. troop posture in Europe in response to the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014, as a contingency operation. Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said that move would give activated reservists the same benefits as active-duty troops and accelerate contracting.
Sims also said that American cluster munitions, which the White House agreed to provide to Ukraine last week following a lengthy internal debate, had already arrived in the war-torn country. Some lawmakers and observers have decried the decision, which they said could endanger civilians.
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