(NewsNation) — Russia is escalating its assault in eastern Ukraine — a new focus in the war it launched nearly two months ago.
Meanwhile Wednesday, in a move Russian President Vladimir Putin says should make Moscow’s enemies stop and think, Russia conducted a test launch of a nuclear-capable missile.
More importantly, it’s one that could strike targets around the world, including the United States.
Watching Putin’s next moves closely are some of the 100,00 U.S. servicemen and women as they train to defend NATO territory — some of which borders Ukraine.
“What we do on a daily basis is we train together; we’ll go out to the range, we shoot, we practice,” said Lt. Col. Craig Broyles.
Broyles is the Battlegroup Poland Commander for the Enhanced Forward Presence and helps lead the four multinational NATO battleground test areas in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, as the U.S. and allies practice together.
The testing process came together in 2016, in response to Russia’s last Ukrainian incursion — in Crimea eight years ago.
“We really practice working together. Because in NATO, it’s important that each nation can operate alone but we never fight alone,” Broyles said.
Since the war began in February, U.S. forces have been beefed up in Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Baltic States.
Already, thousands have had their deployments extended, as NATO keeps its options open while they monitor the situation on the ground and as Russia continues its invasion.
Pentagon leaders say they’re already thinking about what to do in the long term.
“We are having initial discussions here in the building about long-term posture. It would be foolish for us not to, given that we know the security environment in Europe has changed,” said John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson.
In the meantime, the burden of war without an end in sight is weighing on families of service members back home who don’t know when their son or daughter might be returning.
A senior defense official tells NewsNation training is starting on some of the new weapons being sent to Ukraine. This is happening outside Ukraine itself, but no specifics were given on whether U.S. troops are conducting the training.