WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday that he has received U.S. assurances that Washington will not reduce its troop presence in Poland and elsewhere along NATO's eastern flank.
A conservative who has long had good ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, Duda also returned to an idea he proposed years ago to create a U.S. military based called “Fort Trump” in his country.
The Trump administration has not announced any plans to pull forces out of the region, but has said Europe must do more to provide for its own security. His administration’s stance has raised questions in the region about whether Washington will maintain its longstanding commitments to NATO partners.
“There are no concerns that the U.S. would reduce the level of its presence in our country, that the U.S. would in any way withdraw from its responsibility or co-responsibility for the security of this part of Europe," Duda told reporters in Warsaw after a meeting with Gen. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. “On the contrary, I hope that thanks to the efforts that President Trump is currently making, the war in Ukraine will end.”
“I will say that in my personal opinion, America has entered the game very strongly when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. I know President Donald Trump, I know that he is an extremely decisive man and when he acts, he acts in a very determined and usually effective way,” Duda said.
The U.S. deployed troops to Poland after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, but increased the deployment and created a long-term presence there after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. There are now about 10,000 U.S. troops based in Poland.
Duda said his assessment was based on conversations he had in recent days, both with Kellogg on Tuesday and with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom he hosted in Warsaw last week.
Duda said Hegseth told him “that we can rather expect a strengthening of the American presence here. We even talked about the fact that I hope that Fort Trump, which we talked about during the first term of President Donald Trump, will really be established.”
Fort Trump was a Polish proposal for a permanent U.S. base in Poland, which Duda spoke of publicly during a visit to the White House in 2018. The base was never created.
Polish officials hope to preserve the U.S. commitment to NATO and its longstanding commitment to security in the region, with fears of Russia growing.
They are convinced that Warsaw's strong alliance with the U.S. and its high level of spending on defense will help its cause. They also hope that their position will allow it to advocate for Ukraine.
“We have told both the Secretary of Defense and General Kellogg clearly and distinctly that it is obvious to us that this war cannot end in a victory for Russia,” Duda said.
He also sought to allay growing concerns in the population in light of shifting priorities under Trump.
“Please don’t be alarmed, the situation is under control,” Duda said, words he said he was directing to Polish society. “Let me assure you that everything is being done in a way that favors the building of peace in our region.”
Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press
