The State Department commented on the exercises with the US military in Poland near the Ukrainian border

It is reported by RIA Novosti.

“The deployment of NATO forces is always defensive and proportionate.

It is not aimed at provoking a conflict,” the message says.

The purpose of these exercises is the prevention of conflict.

Earlier, the Minister of National Defense of the Republic, Mariusz Blaszczak, said that the American soldiers who arrived in Poland began exercises near the border with Ukraine.

Before that, it was reported that the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, ordered the dispatch of an additional 3,000 American troops to Poland. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US would not move its troops from Poland to Ukraine, but the military could assist if evacuations were needed.

He also said that US troops could be used to help evacuate American citizens from Ukraine, but there are no plans to send them to Ukrainian territory.