President Joe Biden ordered 7,000 more U.S. troops to positions in Europe as Russia continues a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
The Department of Defense sent out a statement Thursday announcing the troop movement to bolster U.S. commitments to its European allies and warn Russian President Vladimir Putin off of pursuing military action past the border of Ukraine.
“At the direction of the President, Secretary of Defense [Lloyd] Austin has order the deployment to Europe of approximately 7,000 additional Service Members. This would comprise an armored brigade combat team with associated capabilities and enablers. They will deploy to Germany to reassure NATO Allies, deter Russian aggression and be prepared to support a range of requirements in the region. We expect them to depart in the coming days,” the Pentagon’s announcement said.
Russia posted nearly 200,000 troops around Ukraine’s border before launching a full-scale invasion into the former Soviet state on Thursday. Russian airstrikes and rockets hit military installations and cities across Ukraine. Explosions were seen in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv before Russian ground troops moved forward in assault on strategic locations such as airports and Ukraine’s nuclear energy facility Chernobyl.
The Pentagon’s announcement came minutes after Biden announced new sanctions against Russia. As The Daily Wire reported:
Biden then announced additional sanctions, as well as limitations on what can be exported to Russia, which were “purposefully designed” to “maximize impact” on Russia while minimizing impact on Western allies. These included limiting the ability of Russian groups and companies to do business in “dollars, pounds, euros and yen,” impairing Russia’s ability to compete in the “21st century economy.” Biden noted that the ruble hit its weakest level ever, and that the Russian stock market has plunged, before mentioning several large Russian banks targeted by sanctions, cutting off trillions of dollars worth of assets from the financial system.
“Every asset they have in America will be frozen,” Biden said, adding that Russian “elites” and their families would — as promised — face sanctions themselves, given that these are “people who personally gain from Kremlin’s policies,” and should therefore “share in the pain.”
As the Russian military pushed into Ukraine early Thursday, Putin gave an address warning other nations from interfering in the conflict. The Russian president gave a veiled threat of a nuclear response to any nation that sought to aid Ukraine. As The Daily Wire reported:
“Whoever would try to stop us and further create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and lead you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history. We are ready for any outcome,” Putin said.
He remarked that Russia “remains one of the most powerful nuclear states” with “a certain advantage in several cutting edge weapons.”
He said: “There should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country.”