US will not lower troop numbers in Eastern Europe, Polish President says
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Polish President Andrzej Duda (left) welcoming US special envoy Keith Kellogg to Warsaw on Feb 18.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
WARSAW – Poland’s President said on Feb 18 that US officials had assured him that Washington did not intend to lower troop numbers in Eastern Europe, as he gave a statement to reporters after meeting US President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy, General Keith Kellogg.
Old certainties about Washington’s role in ensuring European security have been upended over the past week, and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a press conference in Poland that Nato allies could not assume the US would be present in Europe forever.
However, after meetings with Gen Kellogg on Feb 17 and Mr Hegseth on Feb 14, President Andrzej Duda sought to reassure Poles about Washington’s plans.
“We have been assured... that there are absolutely no American intentions to reduce activity here in our part of Europe, especially in terms of security, reducing the number of American soldiers,” he told reporters.
Gen Kellogg will travel to Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv following his visit to Poland. REUTERS