Polish Military is 'Furious' 0 20

Despite official statements from the American command in Europe, the number of U.S. forces in Poland will be reduced, reports Politico. A source informed that this information has already been conveyed to Warsaw.

Poland is preparing for a reduction in the number of U.S. troops in the country, despite assurances from the commander of NATO's Allied Forces in Europe, General Alexis Grinkevich.

"The scale of this reduction may not be as significant as reported by the media, but we have received exactly such information," said a source close to the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, Wiesław Kukuła, to Politico.

According to him, this contradicts Grinkevich's official assurances, but Warsaw is already aware of the reduction of American troops and is working on addressing the issue. At the same time, Polish military personnel are "furious" that they learned about this from the media rather than from their command, the source further noted to Politico.

The Notification Was Not Read in Time

As the publication notes, the U.S. informed Poland that it is suspending the planned transfer of an American armored brigade consisting of 4,000 servicemen. This information was transmitted via secure communication channels to the Chief of the Polish General Staff on May 11, Politico reports, citing three sources close to Kukuła.

According to the publication, this notification "got stuck" in the secure email system of the Polish general, which is why the Ministry of Defense leadership and representatives of the Polish military command learned about the change in Washington's plans only two days later from the media.

On May 13, Army Times and other American media reported this. According to them, the decision concerns the 2nd Armored Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division.

What About Europe?

Last year, the Pentagon withdrew one brigade of U.S. troops that was then stationed in Romania as part of a rotation. The withdrawal of the brigade drew criticism from the chairs of the Armed Services Committees in Congress.

Commenting on this Pentagon decision, NATO explained to "Deutsche Welle" that the leadership of the North Atlantic Alliance was aware of the U.S. plans to reduce the number of their contingent in Romania.

"Adjustments to the deployment plan of U.S. armed forces are not unusual. Even with such an adjustment, the contingent of U.S. armed forces in Europe remains larger than it has been for many years, and there are significantly more American troops on the continent (in Europe - Ed.) than before 2022," stated a written statement from a representative of the North Atlantic Alliance received by the editorial office.

At the beginning of 2026, the U.S. Congress approved provisions in the annual Pentagon budget law that prohibit reducing American armed forces in Europe below 76,000 personnel for more than 45 days, until the Secretary of Defense and the head of European Command (EUCOM) present separate reports to Congress justifying such a decision, recalls the Polish agency PAP, citing "Deutsche Welle."