WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Thursday that progress is being made toward establishing a US Army base in Poland, crediting “the bold leadership” of Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
“If this happens, the location will be announced very soon. This will be a historic step for our Great U.S./Polish Alliance,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
There was no immediate reaction to Trump’s post from Nawrocki, but the head of the Polish president’s chancellery, Zbigniew Bogucki, called it “great news for Poland.”
“It is particularly significant that the President of the United States is announcing the establishment of an American base in our country on the 87th anniversary of Soviet Russia’s invasion of Poland – at a time when the predatory nature of Putin’s Russia threatens the free world,” Bogucki said on X.
Poland has been pushing for a bigger allied presence on NATO’s eastern flank after Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022.
In June, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the US Department of Defense was open to Poland’s offer to host a permanent US military presence in Poland, but that no decision had been taken.
The minister met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in June in Brussels, where the Pentagon chief announced a new review of America’s troop deployments in Europe.
Poland has so far hosted US troops on a rotational basis.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil, Doina Chiacu and Karol Badohal; editing by Costas Pitas)
Comments