Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK decided to strengthen its military presence on NATO’s eastern flank. 

Following this decision, the British presence in Estonia will be doubled as 850 additional British soldiers will be sent to this Baltic country where 900 of them are already stationed. In the meantime, a new contingent of 300 men is also to be sent to Poland. 

“Our armed forces are once again being called upon in the service of our Nation and I salute the bravery and sense of duty shared by all our personnel who have been deployed to support NATO,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace MP explained. 

“Alongside our NATO Allies, these deployments constitute a credible deterrent to stop Russian aggression threatening the territorial sovereignty of member states,” he added. 

During a virtual NATO summit held on the 25th of February, members of the Transatlantic Alliance agreed to send „significant additional deployments of defence forces” on the eastern flank. 

The Atlantic Alliance (composed of thirty members who spoke unanimously) has called on Russian leaders to „end this senseless war, immediately stop attacking, withdraw all forces from Ukraine and return to the path of dialogue […] We will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defence across the Alliance, now and in the future. Our measures are and remain preventive, proportionate, and non-escalatory.”

The United States also transferred twelve AH-64 Apache type helicopters from Greece to Poland as well as eight F35 fighters from the Spangdahlem base in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany).

Image: Twitter @BorisJohnson/British Poles

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen