Hungary to deploy troops to Ukraine border as Europe braces for war

The Hungarian Defense ministry announced Tuesday via its official Facebook page that it would be sending an unspecified number of troops near its border with Ukraine.

"Hungary's security is the most important, we are reinforcing the Ukraine-Hungary border," the statement said.

The officials said the troops were there to both secure the border and provide humanitarian relief for any refugees that flee Ukraine to its borders as tensions with Russia escalate, reported Reuters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to move into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine for “peacekeeping operations” after its pro-Kremlin leaders signed a treaty with Moscow. Western leaders fear his actions may lead to war.

Ukraine’s other neighbors have begun mobilizing to prepare for a potential Russian invasion.

Belarus to the north has allowed Putin’s troops to mobilize on its border with Ukraine and recently held joint military drills with them

Slovakia and Poland to the east have prepared for an influx of Ukrainian refugees, but neither have announced troops to be stationed at its border. The Associated Press reported that the Polish border saw few refugees but many Ukrainians who crossed to stock up on food and firearms before heading back to defend their homes. 

Many Ukrainians appear to remain committed to defending their homeland against the Kremlin.  

“Russia expected everyone to panic and flee to Europe, to just buy buckwheat and pasta, food, but we all bought machine guns and weapons and cartridges," Volodymyr Halyk, 29,” told the Associated Press. "No one is afraid, no one will abandon their homes, no one will flee.”

Halyk and a friend, Volodymyr Yermakov, told the wire news service that they were veterans of the continuing conflict against Russia-sponsored separatists, and they were ready to fight the Russians with arms Putin launched an invasion.

“Putin is an aggressor and does not allow anyone to live a normal life," the 34-year old said. “They want to take our territory, and that’s the truth.”

In Poland, some citizens said the presence of U.S. troops has helped preserve a calm and stable atmosphere.

In the last several weeks, the Pentagon deployed an estimated 5,000 additional troops to Poland, an addition to 4,000 rotational troops Washington began mobilizing after Moscow took the Crimea in 2014. Those soldiers main priority is to remain on standby to offer NATO ally Poland reassurances, and assist in evacuating U.S. or Ukrainian citizens should the country erupt into war.