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US soldiers of an airborne division from the state of North Carolina are transferred to Poland
Photo: Darek Delmanowicz / dpa
In view of the conflict in Ukraine, the US armed forces are temporarily relocating around 3,000 more soldiers to the NATO partner state of Poland.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered this at the behest of President Joe Biden, the Department of Defense said in Washington on Friday.
The soldiers of an airborne division from the state of North Carolina would leave in "the next few days" and should be on site early next week, it said.
The US government had only announced the transfer of around 2,000 soldiers to Europe at the beginning of February.
Around 1,700 of these were also to be relocated to Poland, a neighboring country to Ukraine.
Two-thirds of them have already arrived, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The 300 additional soldiers who were transferred to Germany are already on site.
"All in all, these 5,000 additional soldiers comprise a highly mobile and flexible force capable of multiple deployments," the ministry said.
It is about reassuring the eastern NATO partners and averting possible aggression, it said.
At the end of January, on President Joe Biden's orders, around 8,500 soldiers in the United States had already been put on increased standby to enable rapid transfer to Europe if necessary.
The President and other members of the government have repeatedly made it clear that no US soldiers would be sent to Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of US soldiers are also stationed in Europe outside of times of crisis.
According to the US military, there are currently more than 80,000 soldiers in Europe, including around 35,000 in Germany.
jso/dpa