US Extends Deployment of Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in Mediterranean - Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2022) US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has decided to extend the deployment of the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman strike group in the Mediterranean Sea through the summer to bolster support for NATO's eastern flank amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby said.

"He (Austin) has decided that he's going to keep the 82nd (Airborne Division) there for a while longer, and he has decided that the that the Harry S. Truman and her strike group will stay in the Med (Mediterranean) for a while longer," Kirby said during a press briefing on Thursday.

The Harry S. Truman carrier strike group was deployed from the United States in December and came under NATO command in the Mediterranean Sea in January - the first such development since the end of the Cold War.

The carrier strike group participates in the NATO-led Neptune Strike 2022 exercise in the Mediterranean.

The decision comes amid the Russian special military operation in Ukraine that Moscow launched on February 24 after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.