A week after the Pentagon's decision to suspend the deployment of 4,000 soldiers to Poland, Trump announced the sending of 5,000 'additional servicemen' to the country. He justified this by good relations with the Polish president.
U.S. President Donald Trump promised Poland continued military support. "Given the successful election of the current President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, whom I proudly supported, as well as our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland," the head of the White House wrote on the night of Friday, May 22, on his social media platform Truth Social. Whether this refers to a completely new contingent or to the 2nd Armored Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, consisting of 4,000 soldiers, whose planned deployment to Poland was unexpectedly canceled on May 13, Trump did not specify.
On that day, reports from The Wall Street Journal and Defence News indicated that the decision to cancel the deployment was made by the Pentagon in accordance with Donald Trump's plan to reduce the U.S. military presence in Europe, but it "caught some military officials off guard." As noted later by a source from Politico, Polish military officials are "furious" that they learned about this from the media rather than from their command.
Earlier, Washington announced the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany following criticism of the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Politico: Poland Prepares for Reduction of U.S. Troops in the Country
As of May 17, Poland was preparing for a reduction in the number of U.S. troops in the country. "The scale of this reduction may not be as significant as reported by the media, but we have received exactly that information," a source close to the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, Włodzimierz Kukula, stated that day to Politico. According to him, Warsaw is already aware of the reduction of American troops and is working on addressing this issue.
At the same time, Poland denied reports that the country would suffer from this. "The number of American soldiers in Poland will not be reduced," Defense Minister Władysław Kozinjak-Kamysz stated, adding that his country continues to work on increasing the number of American troops.
According to U.S. military circles, as of mid-May, about 7,400 soldiers were stationed in Poland. Over the past few years, the U.S. has deployed about 100,000 soldiers and officers in Europe. Of these, more than 65,000 were in the region permanently, while the rest were on a rotational basis.
The U.S. Reduces the Number of Combat Brigade Groups in Europe to Three
As reported by the Pentagon on May 19, the U.S. will withdraw one of the four combat brigade groups from Europe. This move by the Department of Defense will reduce the number of American servicemen in the region to the level of 2021.
The day before, the commander of NATO's Allied Forces in Europe, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grinkevich, stated that the withdrawal of American troops from the region would not affect NATO's plans to strengthen European defense capabilities. In his opinion, "in the long term" - against the backdrop of increasing European military forces - one should expect the redeployment of American troops to other regions of the world.
In early 2026, the U.S. Congress approved provisions in the annual Pentagon budget law prohibiting the reduction of American armed forces in Europe below 76,000 personnel for more than 45 days, unless the Secretary of Defense and the head of European Command (EUCOM) present separate reports to Congress justifying such a decision, the Polish agency PAP reminded.
