Washington deploying 7,000 troops to Germany as Russia invades Ukraine

Thousands of US military personnel will deploy to Germany in the coming days in response to Russia's multipronged attack on Ukraine, US President Joe Biden announced on 24 February.

Washington warned for several months about the Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine, and Biden said Moscow amassed approximately 175,000 troops when it launched its early morning air, land, and ground attack against its neighbour.

“The only thing that I'm convinced of is if we don't stop [Russian President Vladimir Putin] now, he'll be emboldened,” Biden said during a press conference. In a bid to do that, Biden announced new sanctions against Russian financial institutions and said additional US military personnel are heading to Europe.

In total, 7,000 US military service members will deploy to Germany to “reassure NATO allies, deter Russian aggression, and be prepared to support a range of requirements in the region”, the US Department of Defense (DoD) said in a statement. This group includes the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart in Georgia, along with additional associated capabilities and “enablers” including transport and artillery. While Germany is their initial destination, they could be later repositioned around region.

For example, just days earlier the US DoD announced plans to shuffle its force structure inside the US European Command area of operations by moving approximately 800 personnel from Italy to the Baltic region, a battalion of 20 AH-64 Apache helicopters from Germany to several operating locations along NATO's eastern flank, up to eight F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft from Germany to the Baltic region, and relocating 12 AH-64 helicopters from Greece to Poland. However, not all these US military forces were in place when Moscow launched the initial phase of the attack.