Putin Is Preparing to Take More of Ukraine by Force, Biden Says, Announcing New Sanctions NATO’s Stoltenberg says Russian forces are flowing into Ukraine breakaway regions.

 

Putin Is Preparing to Take More of Ukraine by Force, Biden Says, Announcing New Sanctions

NATO’s Stoltenberg says Russian forces are flowing into Ukraine breakaway regions.

BY TARA COPP

SENIOR PENTAGON REPORTER, DEFENSE ONE

FEBRUARY 22, 2022 04:08 PM ET

• RUSSIA
• 
  

Russia is preparing to take control of more Ukrainian territory than just the breakaway regions troops entered last night, President Joe Biden said Tuesday, as he announced additional sanctions. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has now “asserted that these regions are actually extend[ing] deeper than the two regions he recognized, claiming large areas currently under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian government,”  Biden said at the White House Tuesday afternoon.  “He is setting up a rationale to take more territory by force.” 

Biden also announced Tuesday that additional U.S. forces would move from their current European locations to new posts on NATO’s eastern flank. These forces include: 

• Up to eight F-35 joint strike fighters will move from Germany to several operating locations along NATO’s eastern flank.
• A battalion of 20 AH-64 attack helicopters from Germany to the Baltic region.
• A task force of 12 AH-64s will move from Greece to Poland.
• An infantry battalion task force of about 800 troops will move from Italy to the Baltic region. 

Troops that the U.S. has deployed to Poland could help evacuate Americans or allied residents who flee Ukraine, although Biden has said the U.S. will not be sending forces into Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. The U.S. has flown thousands of anti-tank weapons and other supplies into Ukraine and continues to fly surveillance missions over the country to monitor the Russian movements.