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The United States has issued a “heightened alert” for 8,500 troops this week, with sources suggesting that up to 50,000 personnel are currently being identified to support NATO allies in the event of fresh hostilities. The orders follow an uncertain week from the White House, with President Joe Biden appearing to allow a “minor incursion” from Russian forces into Ukraine, provoking a hostile response from Kyiv and leaving White House allies to clarify the US’ official position.
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The United States has confirmed that 8,500 troops have been placed on “heightened alert” to support the US’ NATO allies in Europe, following recent troop build ups off of Ukraine’s border.
According to the Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, the contingent will form part of the NATO Response Force, a 40,000 person multi-domain military force.
“As [President Biden] has made clear, the United States will act firmly in defence of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us, our allies or partners,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby confirmed.
“Secretary Austin has placed a range of units in the United States on a heightened preparedness to deploy, which increases our readiness to provide forces if NATO should activate the NRF or if other situations develop.”
While the units have been placed on a heightened alert to enable a swift notice to move, the US government confirmed that this does not yet constitute a deployment to the region.
"Again, I want to reinforce that as of now the decision has been made to put these units on higher alert and higher alert only," Press Secretary Kirby said.
"No decisions have been made to deploy any forces from the United States at this time."
As of yet, it is unclear what units have been given the alert, with the White House wishing to keep the details private.
Biden “greenlights” incursion into Ukraine
The announcement came as President Joe Biden appeared to “greenlight” small incursions of Russian forces into Ukraine last week, resulting in a fiery response from the Ukrainian President and leaving White House allies to clarify the President’s position.
“Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not to do etcetera,” President Biden said.
The same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned a volley to President Biden on Twitter, rejecting the notion that minor incursions should elicit dispirited responses from NATO.
“We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations,” President Zelensky tweeted.
“Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power.”
We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power ??
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 20, 2022
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a swift clarification of President Biden’s earlier comments.
“If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies,” Press Secretary Psaki said.
Following this, President Biden later appeared to backtrack on his remarks. At a White House press conference later in the week, the President drew a line in the sand noting that the United States would not accept any incursion into Ukraine and further violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
“I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding. If any, any, assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion. But -- and it will be met with severe and coordinated economic response that I've discussed in detail with our allies, as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin,” President Biden told reporters.
“Let there be no doubt at all: If Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price.”
UK strengthens rhetoric on Ukraine
Despite mixed signals from the White House, numerous NATO allies have strengthened their resolve on Ukraine over recent weeks.
The British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace last Tuesday reaffirmed the UK’s support for the Ukrainian independence, coinciding the publication of an stern article attacking Russian aggression with an anti-tank arms sale to Ukraine.
“NATO is, to its core, defensive in nature. At the heart of the organisation is Article 5 that obliges all members to come to the aid of a fellow member if it is under attack. No ifs and no buts. Mutual self-defence is NATO’s cornerstone,” Secretary Wallace wrote
“The Kremlin attempts to present NATO as a Western plot to encroach upon its territory, but in reality the growth in Alliance membership is the natural response of those states to its own malign activities and threats.”
The Secretary of Defence took further aim at President Putin’s multi-thousand-word essay published on Russia’s government website evoking “ethnonationalism at the heart of his ambitions” to justify Russian expansion across the former Soviet states.
In a glimmer of rapprochement between the Russian people and the West, the Secretary of Defence affirmed Russia and Britain’s historic ties stating that Britain is not in “dispute with Russia” but the aggressive nature of the Kremlin.
“Russia and the UK share a deep and often mutually beneficial history. Our allegiances helped to finally defeat Napoleon and later Hitler. Outside of conflict, across the centuries we shared technology, medicine and culture,” Secretary Wallace wrote.
“It provides the skewed and selective reasoning to justify, at best, the subjugation of Ukraine and at worse the forced unification of that sovereign country.”
Secretary Wallace’s article comes as the government confirmed that it would enter into a partnership with Ukraine for the sale of anti-tank weapons.
“We have taken the decision to supply Ukraine with light anti-armour defensive weapon systems,” he told the House of Commons.
However, Secretary Wallace has reassured the British public that the arms sale was in no way an act of aggression from Ukraine to Russia.
"They are not strategic weapons and pose no threat to Russia. They are to use in self-defence,” he continued.
The scale of Britain’s arms sale to Ukraine remains to be seen.
In addition to support from the United Kingdom, President Zelensky has flagged his growing rapport with European leaders.
Today it was confirmed that President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen had approved a €1.2 billion financial assistance package to Ukraine, meanwhile President Zelensky held talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda over increased military and energy co-operation between the two countries.
Even Canada flagged their support for the country with a $120 million loan to support the Ukrainian economy.
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