Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the roughly 160 Florida National Guard members who are operating in Ukraine in an advisory capacity to leave as the threat of a possible Russian invasion appears to be increasingly likely.
Austin ordered their repositioning “out of an abundance of caution,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Saturday morning, adding that the decision was made “with the safety and security of our personnel foremost in mind.”
“They are departing Ukraine and will reposition elsewhere in Europe,” Kirby added.
US TROOPS PREPARING TO HELP AMERICANS FLEEING UKRAINE SHOULD RUSSIA INVADE
Florida’s Army National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team has been executing a train-and-advise mission to develop the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Combat Training Center-Yavoriv since 2015, and their work is underway despite the threat from Russia. The 7th Army Training Command oversees the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.
Roughly 6,000 troops have been deployed to other European countries, half of which got their orders just a day earlier. In addition to the 6,000 troops who will be in Poland, Germany, and Romania, if they aren’t there already, approximately 8,500 troops are on “heightened alert” for a deployment should NATO call up their forces.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly warned Americans to leave Ukraine as the threat of a Russian invasion remains.
Those pleas have grown in recent days with national security adviser Jake Sullivan telling reporters Friday that Americans in Ukraine should leave within “24 to 48 hours” because there’s no guarantee commercial travel would operate during a war, while a senior State Department official told reporters on a call on Saturday, it was “past time for” Americans to leave Ukraine.
An invasion would include “aerial bombings and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality,” which would lead to “a subsequent ground invasion” that would “involve the onslaught of a massive force,” Sullivan added.
The State Department official also said that “it appears increasingly likely” that the situation becomes an “active conflict.”
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While thousands of service members have been deployed, they will not be going into Ukraine to fight Russians or to save Americans who do not depart before a war breaks out, should it happen. But the troops could assist in evacuation efforts from neighboring countries such as Poland.
The State Department ordered the staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country late Friday night, while only a skeleton crew would remain to handle emergencies in Lviv.
