Where US troops are deployed in Europe amid Russia standoff

There were already more than 80,000 American troops stationed across Europe, but the Pentagon has added and shifted thousands more.

President Biden has been steadfast that no U.S. forces will be deployed to Ukraine.

Here’s where the U.S. has moved troops amid Russia’s military posture near Ukraine.  

Ukraine

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday ordered 160 Florida National Guard troops out of Ukraine that were largely there to advise and assist.

The State Department has also ordered the evacuation of most of its employees at the embassy, citing the Russian military threat, moving U.S diplomatic operations to Lviv, which is closer to the border with Poland.  

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters on Monday that there was still a “small” presence of military personnel guarding diplomatic staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

Poland

The Pentagon announced on Feb. 2 that 1,700 forces from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy from Fort Bragg, N.C., to NATO ally Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine.  

On Feb. 11, America deployed an additional 3,000 troops to Poland, bringing the total to 4,700. An unspecified number of F-15 fighter jets have also landed in Lask over the past couple of weeks to support NATO’s air policing mission.

Romania 

Roughly 1,000 troops based in Germany are being repositioned to Romania, which also shares a land border with Ukraine. 

These troops are part of the 2nd Calvary Regiment and are intended to augment more than 900 American service members already on regular rotation in Romania.  

Germany 

About 300 service members from the 18th Airborne Corps stationed at Fort Bragg have been deployed to Germany. The unit is moving a Joint Task Force-capable headquarters to Germany. 

Troops on ‘heightened alert’  

Late last month, the U.S. put an additional 8,500 troops on heightened alert to deploy. If deployed, most of these troops would go to help NATO if it activates its Response Force — a multinational force of 40,000 troops that can deploy on short notice. 

The alliance has yet to activate the Response Force. 

The units on heightened alert to deploy are elements of the 82nd Airborne Division and 18th Airborne Corps, both based at Fort Bragg, in addition to other divisions and Air Force bases across the country.