Republicans accuse Biden of risking WWIII after mobilisation of 3,000 troops for Eastern Europe

Donald Trump and other top Republicans slam Joe Biden after the Pentagon announced another 3000 troops could be sent to Eastern Europe.

Former US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump and top Republicans have accused Joe Biden of risking World War III after the Pentagon said it would mobilise up to 3000 US troops to send to Eastern Europe to bolster NATO defences against Russia.

In a statement on Friday (Saturday AEST) Mr Trump, the Republican front runner for the GOP’s presidential nomination, slammed the decision as a “reckless escalation” that was “straining the US military to the point of disaster”.

The Biden administration announced a day earlier it would mobilise up to 3,000 “select reserve forces to augment the armed forces in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve”, a program established in 2014 by former president Barack Obama after Russia annexed Crimea.

“This [mobilisation] reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to the defence of NATO’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine,” Lieutenant General Douglas Sims said in a statement to accompany the decision.

Mr Trump, who has bragged he would “end the war in 24 hours”, if he were elected president, said Mr Biden was “pushing us further toward ‘World War Three’”.

US President Joe Biden, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Picture: AFP

“Biden has proclaimed that he will continue sending American treasure and weaponry to fuel endless war in Ukraine for ’as long as it takes’”, Mr Trump said on his social media channel Truth.

The Pentagon later clarified that the new mobilisation order did not mean an extra 3,000 troops would be sent to Europe only that this many would be ready in case more were required by US European command.

The US announced the deployment of an extra 20,000 troops to Europe in June last year following Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, bringing the total US military presence in Europe to over 100,000 service members.

The president’s mobilisation announcement came after meetings with NATO leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Lithuania earlier this week, where the alliance stressed its resolve to help Ukraine “for as long as it takes” in its effort to expel Russia from around 20 per cent of its territory.

NATO resisted offering an immediate path for Ukraine to join the 31 member alliance, citing ongoing hostilities that have long ruled out new members, although Mr Biden declared Russian president Vladimir Putin had “already lost the war”.

“There is no possibility of him winning the war in Ukraine. He’s ­already lost that war,” Mr Biden said at a final press conference alongside the Finnish president Sauli Niinistö, referring to Vladimir Putin.

Other experts say the conflict, which has lasted over 500 days, has descended into a stalemate given the inability so far of Ukraine’s military to puncture heavily fortified Russian defences in the east of Ukraine, after five weeks of a highly anticipated counteroffensive.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz called the mobilisation “reckless and dangerous”, tapping into growing skepticism among Republicans about the wisdom of continuing to fund Ukraine’s defence.

The share of Republicans who say the US has been providing “too much” support to Ukraine has grown from 9 per cent in March last year, a month after Russia invaded, to 44 per cent in June, according to a recent survey by Pew Research.

The share of Democrats who agree increased from 5 per cent to 14 per cent over the same period.

“The fastest way to achieve peace is for Biden to stop pussyfooting around and give Ukraine the weapons it needs to take back its territory. Then Putin will negotiate,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton, highlighting the sharp divisions at the top of the opposition party.

Apart from Democrat presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Junior, who said on social media the latest mobilisation of troops was about “preparing for a ground war with Russia”, only recently have any cracks emerged within the ruling party’s top ranks over the level or type of support for Ukraine.

Some Democrat members of congress recently condemned the Biden administration’s decision to send cluster bombs — weapons some NATO allies and Australia have disavowed — as a stop gap measure until the US could replenish its own conventional munitions.