that he s on the hit line. that is just one theory as to why all of this has reached such a fever pitch. why this standoff is happening and why now specifically. martha? thanks very much, amy. amy kellogg reporting. john kirby joins us. thanks for being here. we watched your news conference a short while ago. the first question is, what is the purpose of these 8,500 troops getting ready here in the u.s. should they be called to a nato force, where should they be stationed and what is their purpose? it s a 40,000 response force. some of it would be in a very ready task force of about 20,000. most of these troops would be our contribution, the united
medical support, that kind of thing. there s a lot more coming and we ll continue to do that. martha: before i let you go, the only other americans are the trainers that you talked about. are there discussions to increase the number of special forces or trainers that are in ukraine right now? not right now. we re not talking about increasing the footprint. you re right to call them trainers. they re assisting the ukrainian armed forces. they re still on the ground right now. we re watching this closely. no plans to add to their number and we re going to make sure that their safety and security is of paramount concern. martha: thanks, john kirby. thanks for being here. thank you. martha: good to have you here, sir. we re going to take a quick break here. we ll be right back. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination.
martha: western hysteria. that s the response from russia. president biden can considering sending thousands of troops to eastern europe to deter the invasion. first, we go to amy kellogg that reports live from moscow. hi, amy. hi, martha. the kremlin spokesman is the latest here to accuse the west of hysteria. now the possibility of conflict is higher than before as nato decides to beef up its forces in newer member states. those are russian s old allies. russia sends war ships and materials to the baltic sea for further exercises.
martha: joining me how, mike pompeo, fox news contributor and former secretary of state. great to have you here today, sir. benjamin lays out what is going on with europe and how the united states role and power is diminished by the strategic moves that have been made with russia and germany and other players. i want to read for you a quote from a new york times opinion piece by fiona hill. it says that putin wants to evict the united states from europe. as he might put it, good-bye america, don t let the door hit you on the way out. what do you think, sir? martha, thanks for having me on. it s worth noticing the u.s. stock market has taken a big hit as well. american leadership matters. that s why president trump and i had a model for deterrence to prevent these kinds of moments.
new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. martha: in virginia, seven school districts are suing over the mask mandate lifting. school board officials came out swinging claiming his order violates virginia s constitution. republican virginia attorney general responds in moments. first to mike emanuel with the