U.S. paratroopers landed near Poland's border with Ukraine on Sunday after President Joe Biden ordered last week the deployment of 1,700 soldiers to the region amid rising tensions with Russia.
The elite troops part of the 82nd Airborne Division departed from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and arrived this weekend in a U.S. Army Boeing C-17 Globemaster plane at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeast Poland.
Their commander is Major General Christopher Donahue, who on August 30 was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan. He arrived in Poland on Saturday.
Along with Donahu's arrival were a few planes full of U.S. military equipment and an 'advance group' arriving at the airport 56 miles from Poland's border with Ukraine.
It was not immediately clear how many troops arrived Sunday, but a C-17 aircraft is 'designed to airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment', according to the U.S. Air Force website.
'Our national contribution here in Poland shows our solidarity with all of our allies here in Europe and obviously during this period of uncertainty we know that we are stronger together,' Donahue said Sunday, according to Reuters.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed minutes after the plane landed that this was the first group of American soldiers 'from an elite unit'.
'More planes will be landing in the coming hours,' he added. 'The soldiers will operate in the southeastern part of our country.
The Pentagon announced last week that Biden approved the deployment and movement for 3,000 troops in Europe to help bolster forces amid fears of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
An elite group of U.S. paratrooper disembark from a C-17 at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in Poland on Sunday, February 6, 2022
Arrival comes after President Joe Biden approved this month the deployment of 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg to Poland and Germany to bolster forces as Russia moves closer to invading Ukraine. The forces arrived on an Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III on Sunday
The troops arriving in Poland are part of the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was not immediately clear how many troops arrived Sunday, but a C-17 is 'designed to airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment', according to the Air Force website
Ukraine insisted on Sunday that the chance of resolving tensions with Russia through diplomacy is still a greater chance than attack.
But this comes as U.S. intelligence warns Russia is at 70 per cent capability to successfully invade and take Kyiv's government within two days.
Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Russia could invade at any moment and the U.S. and NATO are preparing for that outcome.
'We're in the window where something could happen that is a military escalation and invasion of Ukraine can happen at any time,' Sullivan told NBC's Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. 'We believe that the Russians have put in place the capabilities to mount a significant military operation into Ukraine and we have been working hard to prepare a response.'
'President Biden has rallied our allies, he's reinforced and reassured our partners on the eastern flank, he's provided material support to the Ukrainians and he's offered the Russians a diplomatic path if that's what they choose instead,' he added.
'But, either way, we are ready, our allies are ready and we're trying to help the Ukrainian people get ready as well.'
The troop arrival comes after another shipment of U.S. military aid arrived at Kyiv's Boryspil airport on Saturday, February 5, 2022
Pictured: U.S. Army officers arrived at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland on Saturday from Wiesbaden, Germany where a U.S. Army administration garrison is based
Two thousand of U.S. troops deployed were stationed at Fort Bragg and included the 1,700 forces in the 82nd sent to Poland and another 300 from the 18th Airborne Corps sent to Germany to create a joint task force capable headquarters to provide mission command.
The 1,000 remaining forces part of an infantry Stryker squadron were already stationed in Germany, but are being repositioned to Romania at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) closest flank to Russia. They will add to the 900 U.S. forces already in Romania.
The 82nd can rapidly deploy within 18
