The first US military contingent to reinforce NATO lands in Poland

The first US military contingent to reinforce NATO positions in Europe, within a deployment conceived as a force in principle unrelated to the current tension in Ukraine over the accumulation of Russian troops on the border, landed this Saturday in Poland. The military spokesman for the Government of Warsaw, Przemyslaw Lipczynski, confirmed to the official PAP news agency the arrival of a Beechcraft C-12 Huron plane at Jasionka airport, in the southeast of the country, near Ukraine.

This Sunday, the main group of additional US soldiers for Poland, a total of 1,700 troops, is expected to land. Another 300 will be sent to Germany, while 1,000 soldiers will be transferred to Romania.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby had said the purpose of the deployment is to support allies, but made it clear those troops would not stay in the region forever or fight in Ukraine. The United States had already put 8,500 troops on notice in case the Atlantic Alliance needed a rapid deployment, although for now everything will be done in accordance with bilateral agreements, according to Kirby, who wanted to separate both initiatives.

Maneuvers in Chernobyl

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Army is carrying out a historic exercise this weekend in the contaminated area of ​​the former Chernobyl nuclear plant to prepare for a possible invasion by Russia.

The Facebook page of the reservist forces of the National Guard reported that they participate together with rescue teams in drills carried out in Prípiat – the ghost city that is in the exclusion zone after the 1986 catastrophe – when found «on line of collision with the opponent. Exercises that aim to “guarantee the safety of citizens, prevent sabotage and the transition of the city to enemy control.”

For his part, the Minister of the Interior, Denis Monastirskiy, confirmed late on Friday that this is the first time that an exercise of such a scale has been carried out in the restricted area.