President Joe Biden said Friday night he will move U.S. troops to Eastern Europe and NATO countries “in the near term,” without elaborating on the timing but adding that the number would be “not a lot.”
Biden has consistently said he does not plan to send troops into Ukraine, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear earlier Friday that U.S. troops on high alert had not yet been deployed to the region.
"I’ll be moving U.S. troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term. Not a lot," Biden said in response to a reporter's question at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a trip to Pittsburgh.
Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union, and is now a buffer between Russia and European members of NATO, a military alliance led by the U.S. Sky News security and defense editor Deborah Haynes explains more about tensions in Ukraine and how negotiations are going between the U.S. and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
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For more on this story, go to NBC News.
