Warsaw contradicts US on possible Ukraine deployment
Poland has no plans to send its military to Ukraine in any role, the country’s top officials have said, responding to remarks by Keith Kellogg. US President Donald Trump’s special envoy had said Warsaw’s troops could be a part of a “resilience force” to be deployed to the country.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday that was not the case, stating that his country would only serve as a “logistics hub” and the government “does not plan and will not send Polish soldiers to Ukraine.”
“This is the clear position of the government, the president, and all political forces in Poland. Poland sees its very important role – and we are talking about this within the coalition led by Great Britain, France, most European countries, NATO countries – in stabilizing the situation in Ukraine after the long-awaited ceasefire or peace as a country supporting the logistics hub, infrastructure security, and protection of NATO’s eastern flank,” he said.
The message was further reinforced by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Wednesday, when the top diplomat told web portal Onet that “Kellogg could have overinterpreted the fact that Poland would be part of this operation if it took place.”
“Stop manipulating, the head of government, the minister of defense, and I repeat: Poland will NOT send Polish soldiers to Ukraine,” Sikorski wrote on X shortly after the conversation with the outlet.
Trump’s special envoy told Fox Business on Tuesday that Washington was in talks with its European NATO allies about sending military contingents to Ukraine as part of a possible post-conflict settlement. Kellogg spoke about the potential “resilience force” being deployed west of the Dnieper River, which would place them “outside the contact zone.”
“This is a force referred to as the E3, but it’s actually now the E4 – when you include the Brits, the French, and the Germans, and in fact, the Poles as well,” he claimed.
A group of European NATO member states has for months been trying to muster a “coalition of the willing” for what they describe as a post-conflict peacekeeping force. Thus far however, Kiev’s backers have failed to agree on its exact goals, mission, or shape.
Russia has unequivocally rejected the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine in any form, arguing it would pose a direct threat and could ultimately trigger a nuclear conflict.
