NATO makes plans to boost its military presence in eastern Europe as Ukraine war grinds on

NATO defence ministers have asked military commanders to draw up plans for a significantly larger long-term deployment of western forces in eastern Europe, the secretary general of the alliance said Wednesday. 

Jens Stoltenberg made the remarks at the end of a special ministerial meeting in Brussels which also included representatives of Sweden, Finland and Ukraine.

The plans, he said, will be discussed along with other developments in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by NATO leaders at an emergency meeting next week at alliance headquarters.

Final approval for the deployment — which is expected to send thousands more troops into the Baltic states, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania —