U.S. sending troops to Eastern Europe as Russia masses forces near Ukraine Transcript The Pentagon announced Wednesday that thousands of U.S. troops will soon be dispatched to Eastern Europe amid a major military buildup

U.S. sending troops to Eastern Europe as Russia masses forces near Ukraine

Transcript¹

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that thousands of U.S. troops will soon be dispatched to Eastern Europe amid a major military buildup of Russian forces around Ukraine.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

After discussing the move for some days, the United States is pushing some troops forward in Europe. The Pentagon says these forces will move into eastern European countries that are NATO allies close to but not inside Ukraine. Over 100,000 Russian troops are stationed near Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses the Western allies over their role and his role in that former Soviet² republic. NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is with us. Tom, good morning.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE³: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: Which troops are moving in from where?

BOWMAN: Well, the Pentagon announced this morning that some 2,000 troops from the U.S. will deploy⁴ to Germany and Poland. They're from Fort Bragg, N.C., elements of the 82nd Airborne and the 18th Airborne corps⁵ headquarters. And another 1,000 American troops, Steve, already in Germany will head to Romania in the coming days. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the troops are meant to reinforce these NATO allies. And it's a robust⁶ defense⁷. And it's not escalatory, he said. The U.S. is doing this on its own, Kirby said, and not through NATO. There are another 8,500 troops in the U.S. on high alert to be part of a NATO response force. But they have not yet been ordered to deploy.

INSKEEP: Oh, that's very interesting. The U.S. is doing it on its own and not in coordination⁸ with NATO allies. Although, of course, we're talking about moving forces forward into NATO countries. And I guess we should underline - this is a small deployment⁹. You're describing a few thousand troops. They would not contemplate¹⁰ combat at any time with Russia's 100,000. But they're there as a kind of - what? - tripwire in case Russians went the wrong direction.

BOWMAN: Yeah. Right. You know, we're not - they're not really doing anything practical other than to reinforce U.S. troops and allied¹¹ forces there. There are already some American troops in Poland, about 4,000, and hundreds more in Romania. There is no practical military reason here, Steve. This is not a combat deployment or even a training mission. And no troops will head into Ukraine. President Biden already has ruled that out. This is all political messaging. The hope is that this will force Putin to back down by displaying a strong NATO. But there is some concern, Steve, that such troop movements Putin will see as provocative¹² and maybe make an invasion of Ukraine more likely because this is precisely¹³ what he worries about, further NATO expansion on his western border. He could see this as a pretext¹⁴ to go in.

INSKEEP: And of course, that is what one of the Russian demands was. Although, it's a demand the U.S. and the West have said is a non-starter, as he actually wants U.S. and other NATO forces out of those Eastern European countries. What is the state of the Russian forces now, as best you can tell?

BOWMAN: Well, officials say Putin continues to move forces in and around the Ukrainian border on three sides, more into Belarus, to Ukraine's north, as part of a planned military exercise in the coming days. So more than 100,000. And that number could ramp¹⁵ up to 175,000. And there are also more Russian ships in the Mediterranean¹⁶. They could head into the Black Sea. There is growing concern in Washington of a massive invasion anytime between the middle of this month or sometime later in March.

INSKEEP: What, if any, is the way that American forces would be drawn¹⁷ directly into this conflict?

BOWMAN: Well, only if, you know, Russian forces move into the NATO countries, you know, Romania and Poland. That - Putin has said nothing about doing anything that foolish, frankly¹⁸. He wants to take Ukraine. He said Russia and Ukraine are one. But clearly, there's a big concern about a humanitarian¹⁹ catastrophe²⁰, you know, deaths of civilians²¹, the Ukrainian military deaths - and then also, a, potentially, humanitarian crisis, with refugees fleeing from any fighting into Poland and, likely, Romania.

INSKEEP: OK. Again, a small number of U.S. troops - a few thousand - are moving into Eastern Europe. NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, thanks so much.

BOWMAN: You're welcome.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

5 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

9 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

10 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。

11 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

12 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

13 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

14 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

15 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

16 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

17 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

18 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

19 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

20 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

21 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。