The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has decided to deploy elements of the NATO Response Force in an effort to thwart Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine.
"What we see now is a full fledged invasion of Ukraine," NATO Secretary General Jens Soltenberg said in a press conference Friday, warning that Russian forces are moving towards Kyiv. "We are deploying elements of the NATO Response Force…to further strengthen our posture and to respond quickly to any contingency."
It is the first time that the NATO Response Force (NRF) is activated for collective defense, Stoltenberg said.
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The personnel will be deployed to the eastern flank of the alliance, according to Stoltenberg. France currently leads NATO’s spearhead of the force, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has already put U.S. forces that could be deployed with the NRF on high alert.
“The Secretary has put on a shorter alert tether our contributions to the NRF, the NATO Response Force,” Press Secretary John Kirby told journalists in a briefing earlier this week. “They are more ready to go if called upon.”
In all, 8,500 U.S. personnel are on high alert to deploy with the NRF.
The Department of Defense did not immediately return request for comment on the status of those personnel.
The news comes as Russian forces work to capture Kyiv, with ordinary civilians working to fend them off. Ukrainians are putting up a valiant fight to thwart Russian forces all around Ukraine—but it might not be enough to keep Russia out without assistance, said Olena Sotnyk, an adviser to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna.
“The Russian forces are one of the “biggest and the of course the most equipped armies in the world. And by ourself, to defeat Russian army, it would be…almost not possible,” Sotnyk said in a briefing hosted by the German Marshall Fund Friday. “That's why we are asking international community to interfere and not just with diplomatic means, but with very particular military support.”
“We need additional weapons, we need additional military equipment,” she said.
President Joe Biden has promised to not engage U.S. forces in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine. "Our forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine,” he said earlier this week.
