US Tanks, Combat Vehicles Spotted Heading for NATO's Eastern Flank: Report
A convoy of American military vehicles has been pictured rolling across Poland's highways as the U.S. Army moves equipment to a site within the NATO member country to boost the alliance's eastern flank.
Polish news outlet Radio Zet published an image of tanks next to a report of how residents in the regions of Lubuskie and Wielkopolska had noted an increase in military vehicles traveling on the roads.
The outlet said that, until the end of September, the U.S. Army will move equipment from a military base in Mannheim, Germany, to warehouses in Powidz, where there is a NATO-funded Army Prepositioned Stocks (APS) storage facility.
The warehouses in Powidz are adjacent to the airport, which allows for the rapid transfer of equipment by air, along with ammunition stocks if necessary, the outlet reported. The site will eventually host 87 tanks, over 150 infantry fighting vehicles and 18 self-propelled howitzers.
In June, the U.S. Army said that 14 M1 Abrams tanks and an M88 armored recovery vehicle had arrived at the site, located around 250 miles west of Poland's border with Ukraine.
Ray Wojcik, a retired U.S. Army colonel, told Newsweek last month that the site would eventually be fully equipped for an armored brigade, which sends a strong message to Moscow. It could be deployed to fight within a few days, rather than waiting for a month for the equipment to arrive by ship.
This is significant regarding our effort to work with allies to 'steel' NATO's Eastern Front, It's a great example of burden sharing or deterrence and defense cooperation," said Wojcik, a senior fellow at The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
"Since 2014, we've made an effort to show the flag on the eastern front, but with limited capabilities. Today, more is happening, but much more must be done in terms of USA and NATO's forward defense.
"Otherwise, the results of 'failed' deterrence continue, a la 2014, then, 2022," Wojcik added, referring to Russia's seizure of Crimea and then its full-scale invasion. Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
The bolstering of NATO's eastern flank in Poland comes amid heightened tensions with Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian partisan group Atesh reported that a convoy of 10 of Russia's advanced T-90M Proryv tanks had been seen near St. Petersburg after being transported from Sertolovo in the Leningrad region, where a Russian military training site is located.
The publication Dagens reported Tuesday that the location of the vehicles was significant, given that it was at least 500 miles from the front line in Ukraine and within 100 miles from the nearest NATO borders of Estonia and Finland.
US Tanks, Combat Vehicles Spotted Heading for NATO's Eastern Flank: Report - Newsweek
