Poland’s president says US assures him it will not reduce its troop presence

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday that he has received US assurances that Washington will not reduce its troop presence in Poland and elsewhere along Nato’s eastern flank.

The administration of US President Donald Trump 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 US would reduce the level of its presence in our country, that the US would in any way withdraw from its responsibility or co-responsibility for the security of this part of Europe,” Mr Duda told reporters in Warsaw.

“On the contrary, I hope that, thanks to the efforts that President Trump is currently making, the war in Ukraine will end.”

Mr Duda, who has long been friendly to Mr Trump, spoke to reporters after meeting General Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Mr Duda said his assessment was based on conversations he had in recent days, both with Gen Kellogg and with US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth, whom he hosted in Warsaw last week.

He called on the population “to remain calm” in light of shifting priorities under Mr Trump.

The US 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.