US weighs building permanent bases in Eastern Europe

Top Pentagon official tells Congress he did not think Russian leader was 'deterrable'

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen Mark Milley and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin testify before the House Committee on Armed Services in Washington on Tuesday. EPA

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The US should build permanent military bases in Eastern Europe, the Pentagon's top officer said on Tuesday, as the West looks to adapt its security posture after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley said countries in the region including Romania, Poland and the Baltics were “very willing” to have the permanent bases.

“They'll build them, they'll pay for them,” Gen Milley said at a House Armed Services Committee alongside Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.

Gen Milley said the bases should have expeditionary forces rotate through them instead of permanently deployed units.

“My advice would be to create permanent bases, but don’t permanently station,” he said. “You get the effect of permanence by rotational forces.”

The US currently has troops deployed across Eastern Europe and nearly 100,000 across the continent. While it has permanent bases across Western Europe, US troops in the East are rotated through facilities run by ally countries.

Gen Milley said US bases would cut costs for American troops in terms of living expenses. Several Eastern European countries including Kosovo, Lithuania, Poland and Romania have expressed greater interest in the past two months in hosting US troops on their territory.

Kosovo said it is amenable to discussing a permanent US military base.

Mr Austin said such a decision would come after consultations with Nato.

“If Nato deems it’s appropriate to change its footprint, then certainly we’ll be a part of that,” he said.

He expected those discussions to happen at Nato’s next summit in June.

“We will defend every inch of Nato territory if required,” Mr Austin added, as he vowed continued US military support for Ukraine.

In the courtyard of their house, Vlad Tanyuk, 6, stands near the grave of his mother Ira Tanyuk, who died because of starvation and stress due to the war, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

A Ukrainian soldier walks with children passing destroyed cars due to the war against Russia, in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surveys the destruction in Bucha. AFP

Residential buildings damaged during fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters

A bridge damaged by shelling in Bucha. EPA

A soldier stationed in Bucha, after the city was the recaptured by the Ukrainian army. EPA

Chervona Voloshin kisses Varvara Statenova goodbye as she heads home to Kyiv after being housed at a shelter for displaced people in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty Images

Parts of a destroyed aircraft at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, outskirts of Kyiv. AP

A Ukrainian territorial defence serviceman walks past a destroyed Russian armoured personnel carrier in the town of Borodianka, north-west of Kyiv. AFP

Tanya Nedashkivska recounts how her husband Vasyl Ivanovych, who served in Ukraine’s navy, was killed by Russian soldiers, in Bucha, Ukraine. He was arrested by Russian soldiers. Tanya looked for him for days and found him in a building's basement where two bodies were lying. She recognised him by his shoes and trousers. AP

Damaged residential buildings in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters

Families arrive to board a train at Kramatorsk central station as they flee the eastern city, in the Donbas region. AFP

Romanian politicians listen to President Zelenskyy’s speech by video link, on a screen in the parliament in Bucharest. AP

The remains of a Russian Su-35 aircraft that was hit by the Ukrainian armed forces in Kharkiv. Reuters

A damaged monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in the besieged city of Mariupol, southern Ukraine. Reuters

A man removes a door covering the opening to an underground concrete enclosure in which bodies of civilians killed by Russian forces, residents say, were dumped as people were unable to transport them to a cemetery in Bucha, Ukraine. AP

A Ukrainian soldier tries to convince a puppy to drink milk as residents wait for distribution of food products in Motyzhyn, Ukraine, which was until recently under the control of the Russian military. AP

The pain of war is evident as women wait for food aid in the village of Motyzhyn. AP

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on screen during the 64th Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. AFP

The gutted interior of a theatre in central Mariupol, destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict. Reuters

Desolation in Mariupol which has suffered intense bombardment. Reuters

A Ukrainian soldier walks in front of the remains of an Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world's biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian troops at an airfield in the city of Hostomel, in the Kyiv region. Reuters

A local woman salutes Ukrainian soldiers in the Chernihiv region. Reuters

A woman hugs a Ukrainian soldier after a convoy of military and aid vehicles arrived in the formerly Russian-occupied town of Bucha, near Kyiv. AP

Smoke rises after an attack by Russian forces in Odesa. AFP

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presents an award to an injured Ukrainian service member at a military hospital in Kyiv. Reuters

A destroyed building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. AFP

People, mainly women and children, pass through the Medyka border crossing on their journey out of Ukraine and into Poland. Getty

Asked about lessons from Ukraine war's first 40 days, Mr Austin credited Ukrainian troops for countering Russian attacks.

“We have learnt that a determined force can do tremendous work in terms of defending itself, and the Ukrainians demonstrate that each and every day,” Mr Austin said.

He attributed some of that resilience to US weaponry.

“We've seen them again blunt the advance of a far superior force with respect to the Russians in terms of numbers and capability by using the right types of techniques and the right weapon systems; the Javelin, the Stingers are proven to be very effective in the fight.”

Gen Milley said the capability of US intelligence gathering and transmission is another lesson from the war.

“We've had extraordinary intelligence all throughout and the intelligence sharing that we've enabled Ukraine to see … the ability of us to transmit information that is useful to Ukraine has been enormously helpful,” the US commander said.

But Gen Milley warned of the gravity of the challenge that Russia’s war poses to the US-backed global order.

“We are now facing two global powers, China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities”, he said.

“We are witnessing the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe, perhaps the world in my 40 years of service and in uniform.”

Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin could have been deterred from invading on February 24, Gen Milley argued that it would have required a US troop presence in Ukraine, which risked sparking a US-Russia conflict.

“Candidly, short of the commitment of US military forces into Ukraine proper, I'm not sure he was deterrable.”

Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the latest in the continuing Russia-Ukraine war. AFP

People take part in a protest against the transport of cargo to Russia and Belarus near the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Koroszczyn, eastern Poland. EPA

A Ukrainian naval vessel, thought to be the ‘Donbas’ and a nearby building burn in the besieged city of Mariupol. AP

Bucha resident Tetiana Ustymenko weeps over the grave of her son, buried in the garden of her house, in Bucha, north-west of Kyiv. AFP

People charge their mobile phones in a public building in Bucha. AFP

People from Mariupol leave a train to be taken to temporary residences in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. AP

Vladyslava Liubarets, a Bucha resident, cries as she hugs her sister whom she had not seen since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army. EPA

Local citizen Oleksandr, 55, looks at the grave of his neighbour in the backyard of his private house in Hostomel in Kyiv. EPA

Debris of a rocket missile on the field near Kyiv. EPA

The mother of Ukrainian soldier Lubomyr Hudzeliak, who was killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mourns during his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP

A woman takes care of a baby at a shelter in the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region. AFP

Residents gather outside a shelter in the city of Severodonetsk. AFP

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A damaged ambulance in Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters

A bomb crater left behind by Russia's attack on the Ukrainian village of Demydiv, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters

Russian attacks have reduced Hotel Ukraine in Chernihiv to debris. Reuters

Oleksii Shcherbo, 98, near his burnt house in the village of Sloboda, on the outskirts of Chernihiv. Reuters

Residents walk past destroyed Russian military machinery on the street, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army, north-west of Kyiv. EPA

Damaged National flags flutter in the wind on a cemetry of Chernihiv city which was blocked by Russian troops for a long time. EPA

Demonstrators lie down on the ground in tribute to the people killed in Russia's war against Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany. AP

A Ukrainian firefighter works at the site of a burning fuel storage facility ignited by an air strike, in Dnipropetrovsk. Reuters

A woman before and after she was removed by rescuers from debris after a military strike on the town of Rubizhne, Luhansk. Reuters

People wait for help to evacuate Derhachi. Reuters

Pope Francis, in Vatican, holds a Ukrainian flag given to him by a delegation from the town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies had been found. EPA

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Candles are arranged in the shape of Ukraine by the monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in the western city Lviv. AFP

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A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling, in Borodyanka. Reuters

Dmitriy Evtushkov, 25, points to his picture in a primary school album retrieved from the rubble of a block of flats. AP

Technicians try to fix the internet in Bucha. AP

A smashed mobile phone lies next to a Russian army ration book in Bucha. AP

A woman and children after their arrival at a centre for displaced persons in Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometres north-west of Mariupol. AFP

A man leaves a damaged pharmacy after a bombing that killed several civilians, in Mykolaiv. AP

Ukrainian soldiers sing a patriotic song with buildings in the background that were destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka. AP

Borodyanka residents carry humanitarian aid packages. Reuters

Elderly Ukrainians shelter in a basement in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. EPA

Destroyed apartment buildings in Borodyanka. Reuters

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