NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that there are now 100,000 US troops in Europe as NATO ramps up its presence on the bloc's eastern flank amid Russia's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Stoltenberg argued that the number of American servicemen in Europe has increased by several thousand over the past few weeks and that they remain on "heightened alert".
He described the deployment as NATO's "immediate response sending a clear message to Moscow that an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance".
"Deterrence of defence is not about provoking a conflict but prevents a conflict. It's about preserving peace", the NATO chief said, adding that NATO has increased support for Ukraine by delivering lethal arms as well as fuel and ammunition "critical for the Ukrainian force to mobilise against" what Stoltenberg described as "the invading Russian forces".
He argued that the Ukrainian military is currently "much stronger" than in 2014, when NATO instructors started arriving in Ukraine to train local troops.
"[The] support we have been giving them for many years has proven to be extremely important", the NATO chief stated, pledging to continue to provide Ukraine with arms.
Stoltenberg spoke after US President Joe Biden last week vowed that America would defend "every inch" of NATO territory as he ordered to move over 12,000 American troops and station them along the alliance's borders with Russia. He clarified that the troops had been deployed to Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, as well as other countries.
POTUS also echoed his previous statements that the US would not fight "World War Three in Ukraine", but stressed that Washington still has a "sacred obligation" under the NATO treaty. He warned that if Russia attacks one of its members, the US will respond, even if it means the start of a global conflict.
Ongoing Russian Special Op in Ukraine
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov has since said that forces of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) with fire support from the Russian armed forces have liberated more than 90 percent of the LPR's territory.
He added that LPR units are now eliminating scattered groups of Ukrainian nationalists based on the southern outskirts of the settlement of Rubezhnoye, which are now under control of the Donbass republic's forces.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the operation on 24 February to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from increasing attacks by the Ukrainian Army after a request for assistance by the LPR and DPR.
In a televised address at the time, Putin stressed that the goal of the operation is "to protect people who have been subjected to abuse, genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years", adding that for this purpose, Russia "will strive to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine, as well as to bring to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful residents, including citizens of the Russian Federation".
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