US extends troop deployment to Romania, on brink of war in Ukraine

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The Pentagon will keep several thousand U.S. troops in southeastern Romania for at least another nine months, closer to the war in neighboring Ukraine than any other U.S. military unit, officials said Saturday.

Over the past year, the sprawling Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase, just a seven-minute rocket flight across the Black Sea from where Russian forces have based themselves in Crimea, has become a training center for NATO forces in southeastern Europe. The forces would be a first line of defense if Russia invaded further west.

There are about 4,000 US troops from the 101st Airborne Division who have been stationed at the airbase since last summer, including small groups of troops who train frequently just on the Romania-Ukraine border. Before that, there was a smaller contingent from the 82nd Airborne which was sent as part of a rapid reaction force after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Troops from the 101st Airborne Division will depart within the next two months, and officials said they will be replaced by a different brigade from the 101st Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Additionally, officials said, the mission will be led by senior staff, including its two-star general and top planners, of the 10th Mountain Division, based in Ft. Drum, NY, for what should be a nine month deployment.

Before Saturday, it was unclear whether the Pentagon would keep the top-level unit at the airbase in Romania or move its forces elsewhere.

Military analysts say sending a two-star general near the battle zone would allow quick decisions to be made on where to position troops and weapons if Russia pushes the war into NATO territory .

The move would ensure the United States continues to be well positioned to provide a strong deterrent and defensive position alongside our allies on the European continent, the military said in a statement Saturday. The United States will continue to adjust its posture as needed in response to the dynamic security environment.

The buildup was part of President Bidens’ pledge in June to increase US forces in Europe in response to Russia’s invasion. It also included about 12,000 US troops, currently based in western Poland, to work with NATO forces in Poland and the Baltics.

Proponents of maintaining a strong presence in Eastern Europe pointed to Russia’s attack as proof that the United States and its NATO allies did not do enough to deter Moscow in the winter last.

US forces in Romania are training soldiers from NATO allies in Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. Although they are among the closest units to combat, they do not train Ukrainian forces on the advanced weapons systems that are shipped to the Ukrainians.

Romanian military officials welcomed US troops as a force large enough to provide what Lt. Gen. Iulian Berdila, the country’s ground forces chief, described last month as predictable deterrence and defense together.

Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, near the Romanian coastal city of Constanta, previously served as a sleepy outpost for training NATO troops, including several hundred American soldiers, and was more widely known in the armed as a way station with a small dining room for the United States. forces to and from Afghanistan.

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