On 13 occasions this week AlertsUSA subscribers were notified via SMS messages to their mobile devices regarding safety and security matters. The majority of these alerts were related to the approach and ultimate outbreak of war in Eastern Europe.
On Monday, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of a security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine again urging US citizens in the country to depart immediately.
Just a few hours later, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized as independent two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine, dramatically escalating a security crisis on the continent. In a lengthy televised address filled with grievances against the West including repeatedly ignoring Russian security concerns, a visibly angry Putin said eastern Ukraine was ancient Russian land.
Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions – collectively known as the Donbas, which is short for Donets Basin – broke away from Ukrainian government control in 2014 following Russia's Crimea landgrab, and proclaimed themselves independent “people’s republics.” They have been fighting ever since.
The Old Peacekeeping Trick
In signing the decrees recognizing the republics as independent, Putin broke off diplomatic efforts to end the fighting and pledged more assistance to the separatists battling Ukrainian forces. This assistance came in the form of an order for the Russian military to deploy into the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk under the guise of “peacekeeping functions."
A short time later, AlertsUSA subscribers were notified that the U.S. had ordered all remaining State Department personnel out of Ukraine amid fears that security conditions could deteriorate. The embassy had previously relocated from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv. Now they have moved to just over the Polish border, commuting back into Ukraine on a daily basis to continue providing emergency consular services.
Reinforcing and Reassuring the Alliance
On Tuesday, AlertsUSA subscribers were notified that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered U.S. aviation and ground forces in the U.S. European Command's (USEUCOM) area of operations to the Baltic Republics, Poland and Ukraine's southwestern flank.
These moves are the latest in a series designed to reassure the frontline alliance states. The U.S. has also sent:
- 1,000 soldiers from a Stryker squadron in Germany to Romania
- An 82nd Airborne infantry brigade combat team to Poland from Ft Bragg
- Company-sized Stryker units will deploy to Hungary and Bulgaria
- An infantry battalion task force will move from Italy to the Baltics
- An attack aviation battalion will move from Germany to the Baltic region
- An attack aviation task force will move from Greece to Poland
Overall, there are about 90,000 U.S. service members based in Europe.
Demilitarization and Denazification
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin announced the Russian military had undertaken a "special military action" for the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine, effectively signaling the start of a broader invasion.
Russian missiles rained down on military targets, critical infrastructure and directly into cities across the country. The government of Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders into the eastern regions, and landing by sea at the cities of Odesa and Mariupol in the south.
Russian troops also attacked from the north by crossing in from Belarus. Attacks were also launched from the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Vladimir Putin also issued a chilling warning:
“Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to consequences you have never seen in history… We are ready for any turn of events…”
On Friday, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of a statement made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointing out that "cyberattacks can trigger Article 5 of the NATO charter, which is the collective defense article. For clarity, NATO collective defense means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.
As of the time of this report's preparation Friday evening, Russian ground forces were approximately 20 miles outside of Ukraine's capital.
A very dangerous situation is brewing given the potential for the conflict spilling into neighboring NATO countries, as well as the close proximity within which opposing forces are operating. This where accidents happen and mistakes are made.
AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant.
