WARSAW: The first group of American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Poland on Saturday following Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby's announcement about 1,700 additional troops from the United States to be sent to the country, Polish media reported.
On Wednesday, Kirby said that the US will temporarily deploy additional forces to Europe amid escalating tensions with Russia. The deployment includes 1,700 soldiers to be sent to Poland and 1,000 US personnel based in Germany will be relocated to Romania and another 8,500 troops will "remain ready to move if called for the NATO response force," Kirby said.
The US forces that will station in Poland landed at the Jasionka airport near the Polish city of Rzeszow, the PAP news agency reported.
On Friday, Poland received a US frontline team to make preparations for the arrival of the troops and ensure material and technical support.
Russia denies the West's and Kiev's accusations of alleged preparations for invading Ukraine and reiterates that it has no plans to attack any country. Moscow also views similar allegations as a pretext for NATO to deploy more military equipment near Russian borders.