President Donald Trump announced a surprise decision on Thursday to send an additional 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland.

In a Truth Social post on the same day, President Trump stated, "Building on the successful election and my friendly relationship with Karol Nawrocki, the current President of Poland, whom I proudly supported, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 troops to Poland."

President Trump invited Nawrocki to the White House last May and supported him during a critical period before Poland's general election. Nawrocki won that election, defeating the pro-European centrist party candidate led by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

He met Nawrocki again at the White House in September and had previously pledged to guarantee Poland's defense, stating at the time that the U.S. could augment its troop presence in Poland.

The media had widely reported that the U.S. government had abruptly canceled and postponed the deployment of U.S. troops to Poland. Previously, the Pentagon announced a reduction of 5,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, and the news of the postponement of the deployment to Poland was further reported as another reduction.

According to media reports at the time, the Pentagon had issued orders to halt troop movements even as some of the advance party and equipment were already en route to Poland.

Amidst growing controversy, Vice President JD Vance attempted to de-escalate the situation during a White House briefing on Tuesday, stating that the plan to deploy approximately 4,000 U.S. troops to Poland, as originally planned, was merely postponed, not canceled.

"The rotation of U.S. forces is simply being delayed. Those forces can go anywhere in Europe," Vice President Vance said. "We are in final discussions about where to deploy them to best maximize American security, and we have not yet reached a conclusion."

This announcement comes just after Russia launched missiles potentially capable of carrying nuclear warheads as part of a large-scale nuclear exercise on Thursday and supplied nuclear weapons to some units, amid heightened tensions with NATO over the war in Ukraine and drone activity in the Baltic Sea.

Russia is conducting its largest nuclear drills in years, involving 64,000 troops and training on the "readiness and use of nuclear forces in the event of aggression."

Russia and China stated on Wednesday that President Trump's plan to build a 'Golden Dome' missile defense system threatens strategic stability.

The additional deployment of U.S. troops to Poland, which shares borders with Belarus and Russian territory (Kaliningrad), is likely to increase the possibility of Russia responding by reinforcing its military presence on the border or forward-deploying missiles.

Poland is a crucial logistics hub for arms support to Ukraine.

On another note, reducing U.S. troops in Germany and increasing them in Poland is interpreted as the Trump administration's attempt to strengthen U.S. influence among NATO members.

The decision to announce further deployments to Poland, which is pro-Trump, despite reports that the Pentagon had made a reduction decision, explicitly shows the intentions of the Trump administration.

The Trump administration, which has even mentioned withdrawing from NATO, is expected to exert all-around pressure on Russia by restructuring the current NATO framework, which is centered on Western Europe, to focus on pro-Trump Eastern European countries.

The Russian government has strongly protested the announcement, calling it a "direct act of provocation" that threatens its national security.

The Russian government has defined the eastward deployment of U.S. troops, particularly the reinforcement of troops in Poland, which borders mainland Russia and its ally Belarus, as an act that directly threatens the national security of the Russian Federation.

Russia criticizes this U.S. action as a direct violation of the NATO-Russia Founding Act (principle of restraint on large-scale permanent military deployments in Eastern Europe).

U.S. NNP=Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter / Special Contributor NNP info@newsandpost.com