The North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the first time in its history has activated its NATO Response Force (NRF) as it reacts to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the coalition announced late Friday.
President Biden has stressed so far, however, that U.S. troops will not go to Ukraine directly as it is not a member of the NATO alliance, but can help stage support nearby. NATO allies are also wary of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
“We have activated NATO’s defense plans to prepare ourselves to respond to a range of contingencies and secure Alliance territory, including by drawing on our response forces,” NATO heads of state and government said in a joint statement released after the alliance held a virtual summit.
“We are now making significant additional defensive deployments of forces to the eastern part of the Alliance,” the release said. “We will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defense across the Alliance, now and in the future.”
