NEW YORK, February 2. /TASS/. The Pentagon has ordered to place several thousand more troops on heightened alert for their deployment to Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources in the US administration.

Earlier, 8,500 US troops were placed on heightened readiness for deployment. Now additional few thousand troops have been put on high alert, the paper said.

CNN earlier reported that the Pentagon was expected to officially announce its deployment plans within an hour.

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby earlier said that the United States was ready to send 8,500 troops to Europe but a final decision had not been made yet. He specified that the deployments would include combat, reconnaissance, aviation, medical and transport units. He added that the United States was not planning to deploy troops in Europe outside the territory of its NATO allies.