Russia’s Warmongering in Eastern Europe and Arctic Alerts Pentagon

Russia has upped its saber rattling in Eastern Europe and the Arctic, a move that has put the Biden administration on alert.

In the past two weeks, Moscow has moved to test Washington and its allies on land, in the air and at sea with a buildup of military equipment in eastern Ukraine, military flights near Alaskan airspace and submarine activity in the Arctic.

"I think we've been very clear about the threats that we see from Russia across domains. ... We're taking them very, very seriously," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday.

The Defense Department is overly observant of Russian activity after fighting resumed between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine, ending a cease-fire the two groups made last summer.

Twenty Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the skirmishes since the start of 2021.

The two sides have been fighting since 2014 when Moscow seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine, a conflict that Kyiv asserts has killed 14,000 people since its start.

Russian jets and bombers have also frequently flown near allied airspace, forcing NATO jets to scramble to respond 10 times on Monday alone.

In addition, in late March, three Russian nuclear ballistic missile submarines simultaneously broke through several feet of ice in the Arctic in a military drill, a maneuver that comes as the Kremlin has moved to raise its defenses in the Arctic.

Russia's aggressive actions have prompted U.S. European Command to raise its alert status to its highest level, and the activity in Ukraine, in particular, has prompted Biden's top national security leaders to call their Ukrainian counterparts and other leaders in the region.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley...