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NATO to Massively Increase High-readiness Forces to 300,000

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
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NATO to Massively Increase High-readiness Forces to 300,000

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

NATO will increase the number of its forces at high readiness massively to over 300,000, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

"We will transform the NATO response force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000," he told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid later this week in Madrid.

NATO's quick reaction force, the NATO response force, so far has some 40,000 troops.

At the Madrid summit, NATO will also change its language on Russia that in the alliance's last strategy from 2010 was still described as a strategic partner.

"That will not be the case in the strategic concept that we will agree in Madrid," Reuters quoted Stoltenberg as saying.

"I expect that allies will state clearly that Russia poses a direct threat to our security, to our values, to the rules-based international order."

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Pickup Truck Driver Killed by Police after Driving Through Texas Mall and Injuring 5

This image taken from video provided by KCEN-TV shows police responding after a man drove a vehicle into a JCPenney at a shopping mall Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Killeen, Texas. AP/KCEN-TV
This image taken from video provided by KCEN-TV shows police responding after a man drove a vehicle into a JCPenney at a shopping mall Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Killeen, Texas. AP/KCEN-TV
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Pickup Truck Driver Killed by Police after Driving Through Texas Mall and Injuring 5

This image taken from video provided by KCEN-TV shows police responding after a man drove a vehicle into a JCPenney at a shopping mall Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Killeen, Texas. AP/KCEN-TV
This image taken from video provided by KCEN-TV shows police responding after a man drove a vehicle into a JCPenney at a shopping mall Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Killeen, Texas. AP/KCEN-TV

A pickup truck driver fleeing police careened through the doors of a JCPenney store in Texas and continued through a busy mall, injuring five people before he was fatally shot by officers, authorities said.
The truck crashed into the department store in Killeen, about 68 miles (109 kilometers) north of the state capital Austin, around 5:30 p.m. Saturday and continued into the building, striking people as it went, Sgt. Bryan Washko of the Texas Department of Public Safety said in an evening news briefing.
Emergency medical services transported four victims from the mall to area hospitals and another traveled to a hospital separately. They ranged in age from 6 to 75 years old and their conditions were not immediately known, he said.
The chase began around 5 p.m. on Interstate 14 in Belton, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Killeen, after authorities received calls about an erratic driver in a black pickup, Ofelia Miramontez of the Killeen Police Department said.
The driver then pulled off the road and drove into the parking lot of the mall.
“The suspect drove through the doors and continued to drive through the JCPenney store, striking multiple people,” Washko said. “The trooper and the Killeen police officer continued on foot after this vehicle, which was driving through the store, actively running people over. He traveled several hundred yards.”
Officers from the state public safety department, Killeen and three other law enforcement agencies “engaged in gunfire to eliminate this threat,” Washko said.
One of the officers who traded gunfire with the suspect was working as a security guard at the mall and others were off duty, he said.
Washko did not have information about the suspect's identity at the time of the briefing.
Witnesses interviewed by local news outlets outside the mall said they heard multiple gunshots and saw people fleeing through the mall.