Montana National Guard's readiness status unchanged as it monitors Ukraine

Maj. Ryan Finnegan, state public affairs officer, said the Force Protection Condition, known as FPCON, has five levels.

“We are currently at Bravo which is in the middle,” he said in an email. “There has been no change to this level due to the Ukraine situation.

“We are standing by for any changes that may be ordered by higher headquarters or as the situation develops,” Finnegan said.

Finnegan said Montana now has about 520 troops overseas. About 40 are in Europe and the rest are in the Central Command area of operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

The Montana National Guard, which originally formed in 1867, has about 3,300 members, Finnegan said. It is a component of the U.S. Army and the U.S. National Guard. Nationwide, it makes up nearly half of the U.S. Army's available combat forces and about one-third of its support organization.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to attack Ukraine early Thursday after weeks of failed diplomacy and a massive military buildup. He said it was to liberate and protect the Russia-backed separatist eastern region of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will impose severe economic sanctions on Russia over what he described as an “unprovoked and unjustified attack.”

The Pentagon announced the deployment of 7,000 additional U.S. service members to Europe, an effort to shore up defenses around NATO’s eastern flank countries along Russia’s western border.

This story contains information from the Associated Press.