Hundreds of elite U.S. troops were poised to arrive in southeastern Poland near the Ukrainian border on Sunday amid fears Russia is poised to invade.

Troops from the 82nd Airborne Division were about to land at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport. They are under the command of General Christopher Donahue, who was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan on August 30.

Biden ordered the deployment of troops to Germany, Poland and Romania as a show of American determination to defend Europe’s eastern flank amid tensions with Russia. Poland, which is a member of NATO, borders Russia and Ukraine. Romanian borders with Ukraine.

The division is capable of mobilizing within 18 hours and parachuting to seize facilities. It was created in 1917 and is based on Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Days ago, US planes brought logistics equipment and personnel ahead of the division’s arrival at an airport about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Polish soldiers have previously cooperated with US forces, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Maj. Przemyslaw Lipczynski, a spokesman for the Polish Army’s 18th Mechanized Division.

Some 4,000 US troops have been stationed from Poland on a rotational basis since 2017.

 

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