Warsaw Signals Readiness for US Army Base in Poland

US President Donald Trump said progress has been made toward establishing a US Army base in Poland, while Polish President Karol Nawrocki confirmed Warsaw is prepared to support the project and identify “the best possible” site.Trump announced the plan on Thursday, Sept. 17, crediting Nawrocki’s leadership and saying the location could be revealed soon if an agreement is reached.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Nawrocki publicly responded two hours later by confirming that the Polish government would continue pursuing closer defense cooperation with Washington.“We are ready to continue our efforts to strengthen our defense cooperation: seriously, responsibly, and always together,”Nawrocki said, adding that “I can assure you that the Polish government will do its utmost to provide the best possible location for the US Army base.”No final decisionDespite the positive developments, no official agreement has yet been made.“If this happens, the location will be announced very soon,” Trump said, describing the proposed facility as a potentially historic step for the US-Polish alliance.Poland seeks permanent presenceAccording to Reuters, about 10,000 US troops are currently deployed in Poland, largely on a rotational basis.However, Poland has pushed for a permanent US military presence since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, arguing that the decision would strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.After meeting with the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Brussels In June, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the US Department of Defense was open to Poland’s proposal to host a permanent US military presence. Other Topics of Interest US DFC Approves Loans for Vodafone Ukraine, Energy Giant DTEK The critical financing for Vodafone Ukraine and energy giant DTEK aims to stabilize the power grid and modernize telecom infrastructure. The announcement came ahead of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s scheduled visit to Ukraine on Friday, Sept. 18, where he plans to meet with his Slovak counterpart during a summit.The planned visit comes after multiple Russian strikes along the Ukrainian-Polish border, including on trains carrying foreign diplomats and officials returning from their attendance at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference in Kyiv.Russian drones repeatedly violate NATO airspaceTusk consistently warns that Russia’s war could spill beyond Ukraine’s borders, possibly directly affecting Poland and other NATO members.“The threat of provocations by Russia is real and could materialize at any moment,” he said on Thursday, following Moscow’s threat that Poland would cease to exist within days should a war break out between the two countries.Separately on Thursday, Polish military aircraft were scrambled as a jet-powered drone approached Polish territory, landing about 4 kilometers (roughly 2,5 miles) from Poland.Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said a Russian Gerbera drone entered the country’s airspace from Belarus on Tuesday, Sept. 15, carrying an explosive device, before NATO fighter jets shot it down.A Russian jet-powered Shahed entered Romanian airspace on Sept. 8 and evaded two scrambled F-18s, before crashing in Moldova.In May, Estonia shot down its first drone.The incidents underscore Tusks’ previous warnings that Russia could increase hybrid attacks against Ukraine’s Western allies while portraying them as accidental or denying responsibility altogether. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.