US to station heavy weapons in east Europe as fighting escalates in Ukraine

(Vatican Radio) U.S. and allied officials say the United States is planning to station heavy weapons in the Baltics and Eastern European countries for thousands of American troops amid concerns in the region over the escalating conflict in Ukraine. 

The announcement, first published by The New York Times newspaper, came while the Ukrainian military said one of its servicemen was killed and 21 were wounded in the latest fighting against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. 

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: 

Battles have been raging in several areas where the military said Sunday that one soldier was killed and dozens were injured over the past 24 hours, after at least six servicemen died since Friday in one of the deadliest fighting in recent weeks.

Ukraine's military suggested Russian rebels are using heavy weapons banned under a ceasefire accord in Minsk, Belarus, like here in the town of  Shyrokyne where artillery rounds landed in front of a cameraman.

Moscow has denied supporting the rebels with weapons and troops. But international journalists and Western observers claim to have mounting evidence that Russia is directly involved in the conflict, which followed its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

That worries several former Soviet satellite states who have asked the United States to deter what they view as Russian aggression.

MILITARY WAREHOUSES

Poland's Defense Ministry confirmed Sunday that that the country is in talks with the United States about stationing U.S. Army equipment warehouses in Poland.

That announcement came shortly after The New York Times newspaper quoted U.S. and allied officials as saying that the United States is planning to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries.

Under the plan a company's worth of equipment -- enough for about 150 soldiers -- would be stored in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Enough for a company or possibly a battalion - about 750 soldiers - would be located in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and possibly Hungary.

The proposal, if approved, would represent the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States has stationed heavy military equipment on such a large scale in the newer NATO members of nations in Eastern Europe that had once been part of the Soviet sphere of influence.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO yet, but its Prime Minister ArseniyYatsenyuk has been busy lobbying for international support amid a mounting death toll. "This war costs us thousands of human lives. So we lost...The death toll is about 1800 of Ukrainian soldiers and more than 8,000 civilians due to the Russian-led aggression. And this war cost us from five to seven million dollars per day," he told reporters.

His government fears it may have to stop paying its creditors within weeks if they do not agree with the international community, including the International Monetary Fund, on a debt restructuring of as much as $70 billion.