US F-16s, soldiers coming to Poland this week
22:49
This week, 12 US F-16 fighter jets and 300 American soldiers will be arriving in Poland for a training exercise, Tomasz Siemoniak the Polish Minister of Defense has announced.
The jets are expected to arrive at the Lask base, in central Poland today or tomorrow.
Siemoniak said that while joint US-Polish training exercises had been planned in Poland earlier their scale was meant to have been smaller. “In response to our request, the United States brought forward the date of the training exercise and significantly increased the number of jets that will be coming to Poland.”
The moves comes amidst heightened tensions in the region as Russia is becoming increasingly involved in the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine deploying up to 30,000 troops there according to some reports.
When asked how long the heightened US military presence would remain in Poland, Siemoniak quoted US Ambassador to Poland Stephen Mull who in response to the same question said for “as long as necessary.”
