分类： politics

In a development that reshapes current discussions of U.S. military posture across Europe, Polish government leaders confirmed Wednesday that they have accepted Washington’s clarification that the canceled deployment of 4,000 American troops to the Central European nation is only a temporary hold, rather than a permanent drawdown.

The announcement came after a wave of surprise and unease rippled through Warsaw last week, when officials learned that the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division — originally scheduled to rotate into Poland, a frontline NATO member sharing a border with war-torn Ukraine — would not arrive as planned. The reaction set off heightened transatlantic tensions, coming on the heels of the Trump administration’s previously announced plan to cut U.S. troop levels stationed in Germany, a decision that already stirred criticism and anxiety on both sides of the Atlantic.

By Tuesday evening, top U.S. defense officials moved to ease those concerns. Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell framed the halted deployment to Poland as a “temporary delay,” adding that Warsaw has long served as a “model U.S. ally” within the NATO alliance. Poland currently stands out among NATO members for its defense spending commitment, allocating roughly 4.7% of its national GDP to military outlays in 2025 — the highest proportional share of any alliance member.

Parnell explained that the delay stems from a broader restructuring of U.S. ground forces in Europe, where the Pentagon is reducing the number of active brigade combat teams from four to three, and is still in the process of finalizing new basing assignments across the continent. U.S. Vice President JD Vance also pushed back against assumptions of a permanent drawdown in Poland, telling reporters Tuesday that “That’s not a reduction. That’s just a standard delay in rotation that sometimes happens in these situations.”

Top Polish leaders echoed the U.S.’s framing on Wednesday. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was pleased to receive “Washington’s declaration that Poland will be treated as it deserves.” Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who held a call with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Tuesday night, noted that the updated U.S. assurances confirm that the overall “U.S. presence is maintained” in Poland. He added that shifting rotational deployments into a permanent U.S. troop presence has long been a Polish priority, and such an outcome would be “always much better.”

Currently, around 10,000 U.S. troops are based in Poland, the vast majority of whom serve on rotational deployment cycles. Polish officials also confirmed that Warsaw will be included in all upcoming discussions about the ongoing restructuring of U.S. military forces across Europe. To date, U.S. officials have not publicly disclosed how long the deployment delay will last, and Kosiniak-Kamysz said he expects to receive additional clarification on the future U.S. troop footprint in the coming weeks.

Even as Warsaw accepts the temporary delay, Tusk warned that European nations cannot afford to ignore the clear signal from Washington that the U.S. intends to reduce its long-term military footprint on the continent, and that European states must increase their own defense commitments to fill the gap.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte backed that assessment Wednesday, noting that alliance members have been aware for roughly a year of the Trump administration’s plan to withdraw some U.S. troops from Europe. Rutte said it is “rightly” expected that European nations and Canada will take on greater responsibility for conventional deterrence and defense across the NATO alliance, particularly in its European theater. While the U.S. “will stay involved” in transatlantic security, Rutte acknowledged that over time, Washington may reorient its military resources to other global hotspots.

The Trump administration has repeatedly warned European allies in recent months that they must take greater ownership of their own security, including the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression. The planned drawdown of at least 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany followed public comments from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who claimed the U.S. had been “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership and criticized what he called a U.S. “lack of strategy in the war” in the Middle East.

Associated Press correspondent Lorne Cook contributed reporting from Brussels, Belgium.

LONDON – In an unannounced policy shift aimed at insulating British households from skyrocketing living costs driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the British government has relaxed key sanctions targeting Russian crude oil, official documents confirm. A new trade authorization that went into force Wednesday explicitly allows imports of Russian-origin oil that has been processed into jet fuel and diesel in third-party countries including India and Turkey, a carve-out not permitted under the original sanctions regime implemented after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The policy change comes amid a global energy market upheaval triggered by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint that typically carries roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies. The closure, which followed the escalation of U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran, has sent global fuel prices into a sharp upward spiral and stoked widespread fears of imminent jet fuel shortages across Europe, including the U.K.

U.K. Treasury officials have framed the adjustment as a narrow, temporary measure. “These changes are for a time limited period and on a very specific issue,” said Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson, emphasizing that the government’s broader commitment to harsh sanctions on Moscow remains unchanged. Britain has positioned itself as one of Ukraine’s most steadfast military and political allies since the 2022 invasion, and the government continues to assert that its Russia sanctions are among the strictest enforced by any Western economy.

But the move has already drawn sharp criticism from cross-party political figures, who warn it will undermine the global pressure campaign to weaken Russia’s war economy. Emily Thornberry, chair of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that the reversal would leave Ukrainians feeling betrayed. “Ukraine’s allies should keep squeezing Russia’s oil industry, because it is absolutely crippling their economy,” Thornberry said.

The U.K.’s policy shift aligns with a similar easing of sanctions by the United States, which earlier this week extended a 30-day sanctions exemption that allows U.S. entities to facilitate purchases of Russian oil cargoes already en route by sea. The coordination between the two countries on easing comes even as Western powers publicly reaffirm their commitment to maintaining pressure on Russia. On Tuesday, finance ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy nations, which includes both the U.S. and the U.K., released a joint statement reaffirming “our unwavering commitment to continue to impose severe costs on Russia in response to its continued aggression against Ukraine.”

The dual messaging – public commitments to harsh sanctions paired with quiet adjustments to soften energy trade rules – underscores the growing tension Western governments face between sustaining their campaign against Russia and avoiding domestic political backlash from surging energy costs for consumers.

Against a backdrop of soaring fuel prices and growing global energy supply uncertainty triggered by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, the UK government has rolled back a set of strict sanctions targeting Russian crude refined into diesel and jet fuel in third-party nations. The temporary waiver, which took effect on Wednesday, also rolls back some restrictions on the maritime transportation of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), marking a sharp shift from the UK’s long-standing stance as a leader of international economic pressure on Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The policy adjustment comes just one day after the UK joined a G7 statement reaffirming its unwavering commitment to imposing severe economic costs on Russia, and just months after London announced plans to fully ban imports of Russian-origin refined oil products processed in third countries. The revised sanctions framework will remain in place indefinitely, with periodic reviews to adjust or revoke the waiver as needed. The temporary LNG transportation licence, by contrast, is time-limited, expiring on January 1 next year.

Officials frame the move as a targeted, necessary adjustment to protect domestic energy security amid growing supply disruptions tied to the Israel-Iran conflict that has choked the critical Strait of Hormuz shipping lane. “This small and specific change is designed to protect the security of supply for foundational goods that our economy depends on, like jet fuel,” Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson told BBC Breakfast. “We remain fully committed to supporting Ukraine, but we have to make sensible decisions for British families struggling with the cost of living crisis.”

The change will effectively reopen UK markets to jet fuel refined in major processing hubs like India and Turkey, both of which import large volumes of Russian crude for refining. Supply disruptions have sent global jet fuel prices soaring: prices more than doubled immediately after the outbreak of the latest Middle East conflict, and remain 50 percent higher than pre-crisis levels. Domestically, UK petrol prices hit a new post-2022 war high of 158.52 pence per litre for unleaded fuel as of Monday, according to motoring organisation the RAC, and multiple international airlines have been forced to cancel flights and raise ticket prices to offset sky-high jet fuel costs.

But the policy shift has drawn fierce criticism from across the political spectrum and from international allies. Opposition foreign affairs committee chair Dame Emily Thornberry said Ukrainian officials had expressed deep disappointment with the move overnight, noting that Ukraine has long looked to the UK as one of its most steadfast allies. “Just because other countries are making the wrong choice does not mean we have to follow them,” Thornberry said, pushing back on the argument that the UK was aligning with existing policy changes from the US and Spain. Even senior Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch condemned the move, pointing out that “after 18 months of standing up to Putin, the government has quietly issued a licence allowing imports of Russian refined oil” – a contradiction, she argued, after the recent parliamentary vote against new domestic North Sea oil and gas drilling that leaves the UK importing Russian energy instead of producing it at home.

Energy experts have also questioned the necessity and impact of the waiver. Robin Mills, chief executive of Dubai-based energy consultancy Qamar Energy, told the BBC that the adjustment is unlikely to bring down domestic fuel prices and sends a damaging message that Western sanctions on Russia can be eroded by regional crises. “There was never any real prospect of a physical jet fuel shortage in the UK,” Mills argued. “This measure is unnecessary, it won’t lower prices, and it undermines the entire sanctions framework.”

The UK’s move follows a similar adjustment from the United States, which extended a waiver first introduced in March that allows trade in Russian oil already loaded onto vessels at sea. US officials have framed that policy as a short-term measure to keep global energy markets stable, but it has drawn widespread pushback from European allies. French President Emmanuel Macron has explicitly stated that the Strait of Hormuz tensions do not justify rolling back sanctions on Russia, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly emphasized that “every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war.”

UK officials have pushed back against criticism, stressing that the overall sanctions regime against Russia has actually been tightened in recent weeks. A government spokesperson noted that the UK has introduced a new wave of restrictions, including bans on Russian uranium trade and new maritime service restrictions that will progressively cut off Russian LNG from UK shipping and insurance services. “Our support for Ukraine is unwavering,” the spokesperson said. “These additional sanctions will further cut Russian revenues and degrade its ability to wage Putin’s illegal war.”