Trump signals Poland could get more US troops during Nawrocki White House visit

President Donald Trump said the US could increase its troop presence in Poland and pledged to secure the country's defense during a White House meeting with its conservative nationalist President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday.

Trump, who welcomed his ally with a military flyover, said the US has a "tremendous relationship" with Poland.  Nawrocki asked if he planned to keep American troops in Poland, and Trump said yes. "We'll put more there if they want," he said.

The US military presence on NATO's eastern flank, including Poland, remains one of the central issues for Warsaw, which is seeking assurances of continued support in the midst of Russia's war with Ukraine.

Nawrocki said after the meeting that the two men had discussed increasing the number of US troops and that Trump had strongly guaranteed Poland's security.

"The success of his (Nawrocki's) special relationship with the MAGA movement and with President Trump would be if the United States increased its presence in Poland," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told journalists on Tuesday, referring to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

Trump extended an invitation to visit to Nawrocki days after he was sworn in early in August and then intervened to ensure he joined a telephone call about Ukraine with European leaders instead of his rival, centrist Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Trump hosted Nawrocki at the White House in May, backing him at a crucial moment in the Polish election. Nawrocki went on to defeat the candidate of Tusk's pro-European, centrist party a month later.

The talks were expected to touch on stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and Poland's security concerns amid signs that Trump has grown frustrated with Putin for failing to move forward on peace efforts.

Trump said he planned to hold talks about the war in Ukraine again soon. A White House official said Trump is expected to speak with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

"I'll be speaking to him over the next few days ... I'm going to know exactly what's happening," Trump said.

On Tuesday, Trump said he was disappointed in Putin, adding that his administration planned some action to reduce deaths in the war. Poland, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, borders both Russia and war-torn Ukraine.

Asked on Wednesday if he had any words for Putin, Trump replied: "I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand."