President Joe Biden has authorized the military to deploy 3,000 more troops to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Biden announced the order on Thursday as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which comes after his two-day trip to the NATO summit in Lithuania.
“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility,” the president said.
The order specified that no more than 3,000 people can be activated at any given time, of whom no more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve. The reserve consists of trained troops who have already served in the Active Army or Selected Reserve.
Operation Atlantic Resolve is an initiative that was launched after Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Created by NATO, the program aims to strengthen their deterrence posture along their eastern flank.
Elsewhere, Biden declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “already lost” the war and that it’s only a matter of time until he accepts it as a fact.
“Putin’s already lost the war,” the president said during a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki. “There’s no possibility of him winning the war in Ukraine.”
This comes after the Biden administration recently sent outlaw cluster munitions to Ukraine on top of the $800 million it already sent.
Two U.S. officials disclosed that the Pentagon will be sending Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, as well as an array of ammunition, such as rounds for howitzers and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The small “bomblets” that are released by these cluster munitions are intended to kill people and destroy vehicles. They can be transported in tens to hundreds in a single cluster munition or canister.
These ”bomblets” have been controversial because once the shrapnel from them is unleashed, it does not have a specific target and could pose a threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.
