Normal Milley additionally traveled to a coaching area close to Nowa Deba, in southern Poland, the place paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne have been coaching with Polish troops. The coordination is a part of Mr. Biden’s effort to reassure Japanese European allies — and guarantee President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — that whereas NATO is just not sending troops into Ukraine, which isn’t a member of the alliance, it’s going to combat any incursion into the territory of a NATO member.
Officers had been adamant that NATO was standing as much as Mr. Putin. “NATO is extra unified than I’ve ever seen NATO unified earlier than,” Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the commander of U.S. Military Europe and Africa, advised reporters on the coaching heart. “I’ve been working since I used to be a second lieutenant, in 1988, and I can inform you I’ve by no means seen the resolve, and the sensible expression of fight readiness, as I’ve seen within the alliance floor forces proper now. It’s outstanding.”
Shortly after assembly with troops at Nowa Deba, Normal Milley flew by helicopter to Rzeszow, Poland, the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne within the nation, which, he mentioned, was deployed to “deter any additional territorial aggression by Russia.”
Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, who commanded the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August and who’s the commanding normal of the 82nd Airborne, mentioned the Polish headquarters might briefly home some 2,500 evacuees from Ukraine. The location, which is in an enviornment, is supposed to function a staging floor for evacuees who’re residents of the US and different NATO nations. Bunk beds stuffed the room, most of them empty.
Officers mentioned that whereas there had been a deluge of Ukrainian refugees crossing the border, the variety of American evacuees was small. Most Americans who left Ukraine traveled by air or crossed at different areas alongside Ukraine’s borders, the officers mentioned.
At an operations heart within the enviornment, Polish border guards, American intelligence officers, paratroopers and State Division desk officers huddled over maps of Ukraine.
“They had been good to usher in all U.S. authorities companies and worldwide companions engaged on options for Ukraine,” mentioned Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Normal Milley.