Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO’s supreme allied commander, provides testimony Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Washington at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on national security challenges and U.S. military activity in Europe. (Reina J. Delgado/Department of Defense)
WASHINGTON — The top general for U.S. forces in Europe said Thursday that the military will continue to push troops into Eastern Europe as host countries build up the infrastructure to accommodate them amid a renewed threat from Russia.
Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, who leads U.S. European Command and is NATO supreme allied commander, said the focus of American combat forces on the Continent has shifted “significantly” eastward in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and will remain there for the foreseeable future.
“Russia shows no signs of stopping, nor does Russia intend to stop with Ukraine,” he said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “Russia presents to us a chronic threat.”
American troops surged toward NATO’s eastern flank in 2022 and now have a presence in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.
Poland, in particular, has “a ton” of service members — nearly 10,000 — and could host more as the country develops the necessary military infrastructure, Cavoli said. The U.S. Army’s first permanent base in Poland, located in Poznan, welcomed its first permanently assigned active-duty soldier a year ago.
“They’ll build us infrastructure and as it comes online, we’ll push forces in [Poland] up to a brigade combat team,” Cavoli said.
There are no immediate plans to grow the U.S. military’s force in Europe beyond the 100,000 troops now stationed there or add more permanent bases in Eastern Europe.
Cavoli told House lawmakers Wednesday that the military will continue deploying service members to the region on a rotational basis.
A NATO force of 40,000 troops is also bolstering the alliance’s border with Russia.
The danger from Russia has not lessened even with its massive losses in Ukraine, Cavoli said. As many as 75,000 Russian troops have been killed in the war, and thousands of tanks and other equipment have been destroyed.
The attrition has barely made a dent as the Kremlin’s war machine pumps out weapons and Russia’s military successfully replenishes its ranks. Russia still has as many tanks functioning in Ukraine as it had at the beginning of the war and is “on track” to build a larger army, with an estimated 30,000 soldiers volunteering for service every month, according to Cavoli.
“They’ve grown back to what they were before,” he said. “They’ve got some gaps that have been produced by this war, but their overall capacity is very significant still and they intend to make it go higher.”
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said last week that Russia has “almost completely reconstituted militarily” over the past few months.
Cavoli said the training partnership between the U.S. and Ukraine has provided valuable insight into the capabilities of the Russian military and the U.S. is closely following how Ukrainians adjust to Russia’s battlefield adaptations.
“Warfare as it goes on is a series of moves and counter moves and Russia’s military has evolved significantly during this conflict,” he said. “This is helping us to keep up with it as well.”
