WASHINGTON—The U.S. military will send 5,000 more troops to Poland, President Donald Trump announced on May 21.

Trump linked the movement of U.S. troops to his positive relationship with Polish President Karol Nawrocki.

“Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Meanwhile, many specifics of Trump’s broader plans for the U.S. military presence in Europe remain unclear in the wake of the announcement.

For weeks, the Trump administration had floated plans to reduce the U.S. military presence in Europe by about 5,000 troops.

On May 1, the Pentagon announced plans to remove that many troops from Germany, after Trump and the country’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz clashed over the latter’s recent comments that questioned the United States’s strategy and progress in the ongoing Iran war.

The U.S. president has said the terrorism-backing Iranian regime can’t be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and criticized Europeans allies, including Germany, for their reluctance to support the U.S. operations in Iran, which he said would help eliminate threats to the world.

At the beginning of May, Trump told reporters that the United States would be “cutting a lot further than 5,000.”

As of May 20, U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich told reporters in Brussels that “it will be 5,000 troops coming out of Europe.” Gyrnkewich serves as commander of both American and NATO forces in Europe. 

After the Pentagon confirmed in mid-May reports that the rotation of 4,000 new troops into Poland would be canceled, bipartisan criticism ensued, amid ongoing hostilities in the Russia-Ukraine War. 

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) called the cancellation “an embarrassment to our country.” 

On May 19, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the decision “a temporary delay” of the deployment to Poland as the U.S. moved to reduce the number of brigade combat teams assigned to Europe from four to three. Parnell indicated at the time that the Pentagon was still trying to decide which troops to station where. 

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby spoke with their Polish counterparts, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying on May 20 that he was happy to hear “Washington’s declaration that Poland will be treated as it deserves.”

The announcement of troop movements comes as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to Sweden to meet with his counterparts in NATO, which has raised questions about the Trump administration’s plans and policies on troop levels in Europe.