Poland has offered to build the necessary infrastructure to host a permanent U.S. troop presence in a bid to “clarify the situation” between the two longtime NATO allies, the country’s deputy defense minister told The Washington Times.
In a recent interview, Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski said that the offer to host U.S. troops permanently — including a full military station that could house service members’ families — was part of broader discussions this week between high-ranking U.S. and Polish officials. His comments to The Times came shortly before President Trump announced this week that he is sending an additional 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland.
That was an abrupt change of course for the administration after its initial decision to cancel a nine-month training rotation to Poland by units of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment drew fire from both Republicans in Congress and NATO allies.
Mr. Zalewski said his nation is prepared to build the needed facilities for more U.S. troops in the country, which is a crucial hub for the movement of U.S. and European arms eastward into Ukraine, which remains locked in a bitter war with Russia.
“We have offered to build infrastructure for an American permanent presence and we understand what that means,” Mr. Zalewski told The Times.
He said that as part of conversations to “clarify the situation” between Poland and the U.S., the offer of a more permanent base wasn’t just for troops, but a full station that could host their families.
“We’ll need to build a small city, with a whole autonomous infrastructure for the permanent posture,” Mr. Zalewski said. “We are ready to do it.”
The U.S. has between 80,000 and 100,000 troops in Europe at any given time, with the exact numbers fluctuating regularly. There are about 10,000 in Poland. About 35,000 active-duty military personnel are stationed in Germany, the largest U.S. contingent in any country on the continent.
Mr. Trump’s decision to send more troops to Poland could be viewed as a way to punish Germany while strengthening NATO’s eastern flank. Mr. Trump’s announcement did not clarify if the 5,000 troops would come from elsewhere in Europe. He announced the decision on Truth Social and tied the deployment directly to his relationship with Karol Tadeusz Nawrocki, who took over as Polish president in August 2025.
The initial cancellation of the deployment of an Army combat team — a unit from the 1st Cavalry Division based in Fort Hood, Texas — was so abrupt that members of Congress and even the Polish government were blindsided. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve told Congress on May 15 that the decision was relayed to them “just a couple days ago.”
Mr. Zalewski said that this week’s engagements between U.S. and Polish officials were meant to strengthen the countries’ relationship and provide clarity.
“We concentrated on clarification of the situation because we were confused,” Mr. Zalewski said, adding that the Polish government will be kept abreast of the changing force posture in Europe.
“This process will last up to four weeks and we will be consulted in this process,” he said.
One of the commitments given to the Polish delegation is that future U.S. troop movements will not “undermine the declaration of President Trump not to decrease American engagement to Poland,” according to Mr. Zalewski.
Mr. Zalewski would not comment on concerns of a possible widening gap between the Trump administration’s public positions and the actions executed by the State Department and Department of Defense.
The shifts in troop levels across Europe are the focus of not only Poland, but many of the countries bordering Russia. Members of the alliance expect more clarity before the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July, according to government officials.
“We need to strengthen deterrence vis-a-vis Russia,” Mr. Zalewski said. “We understand that requires decisive moves from NATO.”
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