The 500-strong military contingent, including 450 troops from German armed forces and the rest from Belgium and the Netherlands, assembled in the Bavarian town of Oberviechtach on Thursday for deployment to Lithuania, according to Europe-based media reports.

The mechanized infantry soldiers attended a farewell ceremony before their deployment in what the US-led military alliance has described as a “deterrence” force against Russia.

"In the past few months, we have undergone a highly intensive training," said Christoph Huber, commander of the so-called German Panzergrenadiere force, emphasizing that the soldiers were looking forward to the “great task.”

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Meanwhile, senior NATO military officials anticipated that the Kremlin will respond to the troop deployment, pointing to recent reports that Moscow has deployed its mobile nuclear “Iskander” missiles in Kaliningrad, which are capable of striking targets as far as Berlin.

what the fuck is going on right now