US troops could restart Poland deployments in the ‘coming weeks’

A Polish defense official said the U.S. military will resume rotating troops into Poland in the “coming weeks,” two months after the Pentagon abruptly canceled an Army deployment of nearly 4,000 soldiers to the country. U.S. officials did not directly address on Monday whether a large-scale rotation was in the works, but noted that some number of U.S. troops have remained in Poland throughout the summer.

“The rotation of U.S. troops, which was suspended several weeks ago, is resuming and will continue, and in the coming weeks, the rotation of U.S. troops to Poland will be completed,” Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a public speech Monday. He appeared to be referring to a long-scheduled rotation of nearly 4,000 soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division that was abruptly canceled in May.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said he had been informed of the reactivated rotation by Stephanie Holmes, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and from the U.S. Military Attaché in Poland.

U.S. officials with the Pentagon, U.S. European Command and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment Monday about Kosiniak-Kamysz’s remarks.

The announcement comes almost two months after the Pentagon canceled the 4,000-soldier 1st Cavalry Division rotation. Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is also the deputy prime minister, announced the resumption of rotating troops at an event in Bydgoszcz, Poland, celebrating a deal to make American-designed cruise missiles in the country.

It is not clear when specifically American forces would rotate in, how many will be a part of that force or what unit they will be drawn from.

Muddled troop levels in Poland and central Europe

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States has increased the number of troops rotated into central and eastern Europe to support NATO partners as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. That peaked with as many as five brigades and two division headquarters, but it has decreased since the start of 2025, a defense official told Task & Purpose this May.

The 1st Cavalry Division troops set to deploy to Poland this year as part of a regularly scheduled rotation in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, with some already on the ground by May. The deployment was one of two confirmed deployments canceled earlier this year, along with a missile defense unit long planned to go to Germany.

The May cancelation came the same day that the White House said it would draw down 5,000 troops from the continent amid a diplomatic feud between President Donald Trump and German leadership over the war with Iran.

President Donald Trump later announced that an additional 5,000 American troops would go to Poland, although that has not yet happened and it is unclear where those troops would come from. In mid-June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a review of American troop deployments to Europe, which is set to last several months.

Although the cavalry unit’s deployment was canceled, thousands of American personnel are still in Poland. At the end of June, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division transferred authority to the 1st Infantry Division as it wrapped up a nine-month deployment to eastern Europe.