“That’s a big deal,” Kirby said Friday afternoon in a briefing from the Pentagon.
Kirby said he would no have immediate specifics on the deployment of units, timelines and schedules.
“We don’t have any activation information,” Lt. Col. Cynthia Harris, a spokeswoman for the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson, said Friday. “And any announcements about military activities are actually going to be provided by (the office of the secretary of defense).”
The 445th Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit with a fleet of nine C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, provides transport of people and equipment. It was involved in the evacuation of Afghanistan in August.
Announcements about specific units may come later, Kirby said Friday, saying the United States stands ready to further support NATO and its response forces. The Pentagon will be in direct consultation with NATO and Gen. Tod Wolters, NATO’s supreme allied commander.
In response to a reporter’s question, Kirby acknowledged that an American armored brigade could be heading to Europe.
“It’s going to depend on what are the capabilities requested and what’s the need,” he said.
The number of U.S. troops on prepared-to-deploy orders are “several thousand north of 8,500,” as of Friday, Kirby said. One concern at work is that it’s “not clear where Mr. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is going.”
“One of the reasons we’re doing this is we want to make it clear to him that we will defend every inch of NATO territory,” Kirby said
President Biden has said this week he will order another 7,000 U.S. troops to Europe.
However, Kirby also said, the president has been “very clear that U.S. troops will not be fighting in Ukraine.”
Asked how the war in Ukraine was going, Kirby declined to offer specifics, but he said: “We see clear indications that the Ukrainian armed forces are fighting back and bravely defending their country.”
“It’s not been apparent to us over the last 24 hours or so that the Russians have been able to carry out their plans as they thought they would be able to,” he said. “Our understanding is they have been experiencing setbacks.”
Asked if defense-related equipment was still being sent to Ukraine, Kirby did not directly answer, but said:
“We’re continuing to provide ways for them to defend themselves.”
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