USA Assures It Is Ready to Help Europe Defend the Baltic States

The United States will stand alongside its European allies in defending the Baltic states.

Christopher Donahue, the U.S. commander of NATO Land Forces in Europe, stated this on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

He also serves as commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, but is set to retire soon.

The four-star general made the statement at a ceremony in the Estonian city of Valga, where the new NATO command for forces in the Baltic states was presented.

“You are ready to do more and back up your words with actions, and the United States will stand with you. That is how deterrence is built: not with words from a podium, but with soldiers whose boots are stuck in the mud,” Donahue said.

Until now, NATO troops in the Baltic states—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—as well as in northern Poland—were under the command of a single multinational headquarters located in the northwestern Polish city of Szczecin.

The creation of a second command allows the Alliance to deploy more troops to the Baltic states. In late May 2026, Germany and the Netherlands, in coordination with NATO, agreed to establish a multinational German-Dutch corps (I. DEU/NLD Corps) to defend Latvia and Estonia.

The deployment of a second corps to the region, along with the formation of the new command, will allow NATO to “rapidly deploy a large number of troops,” as one military official put it, addressing the region’s limited strategic depth and vulnerability.

The planned change underscores the strategic importance of the Baltic states, which have been in the spotlight since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The threat to the Baltic states

Colonel Paweł Szota, the head of Polish intelligence, recently stated that his agency is considering scenarios involving Russian provocations against the Baltic states, including actions involving so-called “little green men”.

He expressed concern over Belarus’s increasing subordination to Moscow, particularly regarding the establishment of facilities within that country capable of hosting nuclear delivery systems—including the Oreshnik system—as well as nuclear exercises.

According to a report by the Swedish Parliament’s Defense Committee, Russia could attack NATO countries “relatively soon” if it deems the moment opportune to test the Alliance’s response and the effectiveness of Article 5 on mutual defense.