Trump says he’s sending 5,000 troops to Poland, deepening confusion over US military deployments to Europe
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President Donald Trump declared Thursday the United States will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, an apparent reversal following recent moves by his administration to reduce the number of US troops in Europe.
The announcement comes one week after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stopped the scheduled deployment of a combat team expected to rotate through Poland, a decision his department said was based on frustration with European nations who have “not stepped up when America needed them.”
It also follows an announcement by Trump earlier this month that he was pulling 5,000 troops from Germany, whose Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the United States was being “humiliated” in its war with Iran, angering Trump.
In contrast, Trump said the deployment to Poland, a key funnel for European aid to neighboring Ukraine, was based on his good relationship with Warsaw’s right-wing populist President Karol Nawrocki.
“Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” Trump posted.
It is unclear where the 5,000 troops that Trump mentioned will come from or how it will change US troop numbers in Europe. The surprise announcement creates further uncertainty about the US posture in Europe, after Trump soured on NATO allies who spoke out against the Iran war or failed to provide what he sees as sufficient help.
Polish ministers seemed to indicate that the announcement would not substantially change troop numbers in Poland.
The country’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski thanked Trump for his “announcement that the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
“All’s well that ends well,” he told reporters before a meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers in Sweden Friday. Meanwhile, Polish defense minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said, according to Reuters that Poland won’t lose any US troops. “One thing is certain, Poland is certainly not losing what it had – around 10,000 soldiers,” he told reporters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also attending that NATO meeting, where he “will discuss the need for increased defense investment and greater burden sharing in the Alliance,” according to a department spokesperson.
Any troop movement is “not a punitive thing,” Rubio told reporters, “it’s just something that’s ongoing” as the US spreads its resources to meet its “global commitments.”
“Like any alliance, it has to be good for everyone who’s involved, it has to be a clear understanding of what the expectations are,” he said, adding that there was a space for NATO cooperation on the “defense industrial base.”
Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, NATO’s chief Mark Rutte said he welcomed Trump’s announcement, but NATO’s trajectory is toward a “stronger Europe and a stronger NATO” that is “less reliant on one ally only,” according to Reuters.
Poland is a NATO member and has served as the main hub for Western military aid flowing into Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
In 2023, the US established the US Army Garrison Poland, solidifying its military footprint in the country. The US typically has about 10,000 troops stationed in Poland.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
Nawrocki thanked Trump in a post on X Thursday, calling the US-Poland alliance “a vital pillar of security for every Polish home and for all of Europe.”
“Good alliances are those based on cooperation, mutual respect, and a commitment to our shared security,” Nawrocki said.
Nawrocki was elected in June 2025 and visited the Oval Office for a meeting with Trump in September, where he thanked Trump for his endorsement.
Scheduled rotation canceled
Last week, Hegseth abruptly canceled two US military deployments to Europe and ordered the removal of other personnel from the continent, reducing the number of US troops in Europe by roughly 5,000.
A memo signed by Hegseth halted the scheduled deployment of 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, which was expected to rotate through Poland and other countries including the Baltic states and Romania, according to two defense officials. Some personnel from the brigade were already in Europe and now must redeploy back to the US.
The memo also canceled the future deployment to Germany of a battalion that specializes in firing long-range rockets and missiles, the defense officials said, and directed that a command in Europe overseeing those capabilities be removed from the continent.
There are roughly 4,700 soldiers in the brigade combat team whose deployment to Europe has been canceled, and over 500 soldiers in the long-range rocket and missile battalion, one of the defense officials said.
The decision by the Pentagon to cancel scheduled troop deployments without consulting Congress prompted criticism by Republican lawmakers, who said Poland was “blindsided.”
Republican Rep. Don Bacon said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing that the decision by Hegseth to cancel the deployments was “reprehensible, it’s an embarrassment to our country what we just did to Poland.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Zach Cohen and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.
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المصدر: Egypt Independent