briefing where john kirby announced that lloyd austin has ordered a range of active duty military units here in the united states to be placed on heightened to deploy order if activated to support nato s response force. the troops and their families are told that they could be called up in a matter of days. the numbers of forces that the secretary has placed on heightened alert has come up to 8,500 personnel. the troops would be under general todd walters. if requests, the nrf could draw up to 40,000 troops and placed on the easter flank as a deterrent to russia. the pentagon says the troops would not be going to ukraine. if nato is a defensive alliance and if these troops are activated are defensive and for
our message is clear. the united states stands with ukraine, our allies and partners. let s make no mistake about it. if russia decides to come into ukraine, it will be a disaster for russia. the problem is these weapons are not going to do much against the russian air force. the pentagon began notifying troops from the 82nd and 101 airborne and their families, many at fort bragg, north carolina to prepare to deploy in a matter of days, shortening the call time and the event the nato response forces ordered such a force could be part of up to 40,000 nato allied troops if mobilized under general todd walters, the supreme allied commander. pentagon was clear the troops would not be going to the ukraine. the pentagon could send them unilateral to bolster allies that border nato or the ukraine.
milley, chair of joint chiefs, briefed on what they could and should do after they invade. but they also briefed him on potential options for movement in advance of these. would nato, potentially 8500 forces that would be assigned to a nato response force, would they be brought in advance? and if not, would the u.s. do other lateral moves including brings troops from united states, like the 8500 from around europe. the commander, general todd walters has authority to move around in the theater already. that s not something that would need white house approval or signoff. it s possible that the u.s. could start doing that in advance of activation of the response force. it s important to point out these units that are on the prepare to deploy orders here,
it s a very competent group, no question secretary blinken has put this in the appropriate context, trying to internationalize our response to get nato to actually act to bring in the u.n. to a certain degree. secretary austin staying off camera, which is probably good. there are a series of measured, cautious moves that are deterrence oriented, 8,500 troops on enhanced readiness so they re being very careful. we re not going to fight in the ukraine, period. the military commander on the spot is a u.s. air force four-star general, todd walters. the supreme allied commander of europe, shape headquarters, mons belgium. he has a shaky coalition. the germans essentially disarmed to a large degree. they are subject to russian counter-push on natural gas and other measures.
general todd walters, the u.s. european commander who is supreme and ally and commander right now. i know from everything i had this morning that general walters was on a security teleconference video call with general milley and defense secretary alston this morning before he went over to the white house to meet with the national security council to brief president biden. you can expect general milley to join on capitol hill about 6:30 today. they will be briefing lawmakers what we are told is that this is the initial phase of president putin s move to retake ukraine and those tank forces, special forces. they are encircling kyiv as we speak tonight. i would expect to see more air