Story highlights The deployment announced Monday includes two drones and 70 personnel.

The standoff in Ukraine has been going on since early 2014.

Washington (CNN) The U.S. deployed MQ-1 Predator drones to Latvia for the first time this weekend, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The move is part of the "European Reassurance Initiative," an effort by the U.S. to show its NATO allies in Eastern Europe that it is committed to their security in the wake of Russian actions in Ukraine.

The deployment announced Monday includes two drones and 70 personnel, which still stay in the area through Sept. 15.

The initiative launched in June, with President Barack Obama including a stop in Poland on a European trip to speak out against Russian aggression and meet with the President of Ukraine.

Both actions were intended to signal that the U.S. supports the Ukrainian government in its continuing struggle against a pro-Russian separatist movement in eastern Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

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