Elite US troops land in Poland near border with Ukraine

A few dozen elite US troops have been seen landing in south-eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine following President Joe Biden’s orders to deploy 1,700 soldiers there amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division are still expected to arrive at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, 56 miles from Poland’s border with Ukraine.

A US Army Boeing C-17 Globemaster plane brought a few dozen troops and vehicles.

Their commander is Major General Christopher Donahue, who on August 30 was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan.

In Warsaw, Polish defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak hailed the deployment, saying that “deterrence and solidarity are the best response to Moscow’s aggressive policy, to the aggressive attempt at reconstructing the Russian empire”.

Russia has amassed some 100,000 troops on the borders of Ukraine, some for joint military exercises in Belarus, but insists it has no intentions of invading Ukraine.