The US draws down some troops on NATO’s eastern flank

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States has informed its NATO allies that it will scale back its troop presence along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine as it focuses on security priorities elsewhere in the world, Romania’s defense ministry said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Army later confirmed the move, but denied it was a sign of lessened commitment to NATO.

Depending on operations and exercises, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. NATO allies have expressed concern that the Trump administration might drastically cut their numbers and leave a security vacuum as European countries confront an increasingly aggressive Russia.

The administration has been reviewing its military “posture” in Europe and elsewhere, but U.S. officials have said that the findings of the review were not expected to be known before early next year.

NATO has recently been bulking up its defensive posture on its eastern flank bordering Belarus, Russia and Ukraine after a series of airspace violations by drones, balloons and Russian aircraft.

The Romanian defense ministry said that the U.S. decision will “stop the rotation in Europe of a brigade that had elements in several NATO countries,” including at a base in Romania.

It said in a statement that about 1,000 U.S. troops will remain stationed in Romania. As of April, more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel were estimated to be deployed there. A brigade usually numbers anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 troops.

Romania’s Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said the decision reflects Washington’s shift “toward the Indo-Pacific” region, and that allied troop numbers would remain above the number before Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“Our strategic partnership is solid, predictable, and reliable,” he said in a news conference.

In a post on X, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said the U.S. “remains committed to Romania.”

“Our strong presence in and enduring commitment to Europe remains steadfast, including support for Eastern Sentry,” a NATO operation along the eastern flank, he wrote. He did not mention the troop drawdown.

After the war started in 2022, NATO bolstered its presence on Europe’s eastern flank by sending additional multinational battle groups to Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Many more European troops are now stationed there.

The ministry statement said that the U.S. “decision also took into account the fact that NATO has strengthened its presence and activity on the Eastern Flank, which allows the United States to adjust its military posture in the region.”

101st Airborne troops to fly out

In a statement later on Wednesday, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said that the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division will return to its base in Kentucky as previously planned but that no other U.S. troops would rotate into Europe to replace it.

“This is not an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO and Article 5,” it said, in a reference to the collective security guarantee in the organization’s treaty that an attack on one ally should be considered an attack on all 32.

“Rather this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility. Our NATO allies are meeting President Trump’s call to take primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe,” it said.

It insisted that the move “will not change the security environment in Europe.”

Government officials in Poland and Lithuania, which lie further north along Europe’s eastern flank, said they had not been informed of any U.S. troop drawdown in their countries.

Asked about the move, a NATO official said that “adjustments to U.S. force posture are not unusual.” Under the terms of their employment contract, the official is permitted to speak to reporters but only on condition that they not be named.

The official said that even with this new adjustment, about which NATO was informed in advance, the American “force posture in Europe remains larger than it has been for many years, with many more U.S. forces on the continent than before 2022.”

The official played down any security concerns, saying that “NATO and U.S. authorities are in close contact about our overall posture – to ensure NATO retains our robust capacity to deter and defend.”

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England. Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

布鲁塞尔（美联社）——罗马尼亚国防部周三表示，美国已通知其北约盟国，由于美国将重点放在世界其他地区的安全优先事项上，因此将缩减其在欧洲东部与乌克兰接壤的边境地区的驻军规模。

美国陆军随后证实了这一举动，但否认这是美国对北约承诺减弱的迹象。

根据军事行动和演习的情况，通常约有8万至10万美军驻扎在欧洲。北约盟国担忧特朗普政府可能会大幅削减美军人数，从而在欧洲国家面临日益咄咄逼人的俄罗斯之际，留下安全真空。

美国政府一直在审查其在欧洲和其他地区的军事“态势”，但美国官员表示，审查结果预计要到明年年初才能公布。

最近，北约加强了其与白俄罗斯、俄罗斯和乌克兰接壤的东翼的防御态势，此前无人机、气球和俄罗斯飞机多次侵犯其领空。

罗马尼亚国防部表示，美国的这一决定将“停止一个旅在欧洲的轮换部署，该旅在包括罗马尼亚在内的多个北约国家都设有分支机构”。

声明称，约有1000名美军士兵将继续驻扎在罗马尼亚。截至4月，估计有超过1700名美军人员部署在罗马尼亚。一个旅通常由1500至3000名士兵组成。

罗马尼亚国防部长伊奥努特·莫斯泰亚努表示，这一决定反映了华盛顿“向印太地区”的转变，盟军的兵力仍将高于俄罗斯全面入侵邻国乌克兰之前的水平。

他在新闻发布会上说：“我们的战略伙伴关系稳固、可预测且可靠。”

美国驻北约大使马修·惠特克在 X 网站上发帖称，美国“仍然致力于罗马尼亚”。

他写道：“我们在欧洲的强大存在和持久承诺依然坚定，包括支持‘东部哨兵’行动”，这是北约在东翼开展的一项军事行动。他没有提及撤军事宜。

2022年战争爆发后，北约通过向罗马尼亚、匈牙利、保加利亚和斯洛伐克增派多国战斗群，加强了其在欧洲东翼的存在。现在，更多欧洲军队驻扎在那里。

该部声明称，美国的“决定也考虑到了北约加强其在东翼的存在和活动这一事实，这使得美国能够调整其在该地区的军事态势。”

第101空降师部队将乘飞机撤离

美国陆军欧洲和非洲司令部周三晚些时候发表声明称，第101空降师第2步兵旅战斗队将按原计划返回其位于肯塔基州的基地，但不会再有其他美军部队轮换到欧洲接替它。

“这并非美国从欧洲撤军，也不是美国对北约和《条约》第五条承诺减弱的信号，”声明中如此说道。《条约》第五条是北约条约中的集体安全保障条款，规定对一个盟国的攻击应被视为对所有32个盟国的攻击。

声明称：“这反而是欧洲能力和责任感增强的积极信号。我们的北约盟国正在响应特朗普总统的号召，承担起欧洲常规防御的主要责任。”

它坚称此举“不会改变欧洲的安全环境”。

位于欧洲东翼更北部的波兰和立陶宛政府官员表示，他们尚未收到任何关于美军在其境内撤军的通知。

当被问及此事时，一位北约官员表示，“调整美军部署并不罕见”。根据其雇佣合同条款，该官员可以接受记者采访，但前提是不能透露记者的姓名。

这位官员表示，即使进行了这一新的调整（北约事先已被告知此事），美国“在欧洲的兵力部署规模仍然比多年来都要大，驻扎在欧洲大陆的美军人数比 2022 年之前要多得多”。

这位官员淡化了任何安全方面的担忧，称“北约和美国当局正就我们的整体态势保持密切联系，以确保北约保持强大的威慑和防御能力。”

麦格拉斯从英国利明顿温泉报道。克劳迪娅·乔巴努（华沙）和盖尔·穆尔森（柏林）对本报道亦有贡献。