Polish President Andrzej Duda has reiterated his call for the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons within Poland, arguing it would deter further Russian aggression in neighboring Ukraine.
Duda previously made a similar request, which was turned down. He raised the issue again in a recent interview with the Financial Times, this time appealing to the Trump administration.
“Russia did not hesitate to relocate their nuclear weapons into Belarus,” Duda told the Financial Times, referencing Russia’s actions that began in 2023, following their invasion of Ukraine. “They didn’t ask anyone’s permission.”
The White House has not yet responded to inquiries regarding President Trump’s stance on this potential deterrent.
The Trump administration has recently taken steps to try to de-escalate the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing for over three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
While Ukraine has accepted the U.S.’s proposed 30-day ceasefire framework, Moscow has not. It remains unlikely the Trump administration would jeopardize negotiations by agreeing to place U.S. nuclear weapons in Poland, given its shared border with Russia, which could be perceived as a provocation by the Kremlin.
Wojciech Kolarski, Duda’s advisor on international affairs, supported the president’s appeal in an interview with Poland’s RMF FM radio. He emphasized Poland’s security concerns as a NATO member bordering Russia’s Kaliningrad region, as well as Ukraine and Belarus.
However, if the U.S. declines Poland’s request again, another nuclear-armed NATO nation might be willing to participate in “nuclear sharing.”
Amid growing concerns within the European Union about potential U.S. troop withdrawals or the U.S. becoming a less reliable defense partner against Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron has advocated for a strategy to extend France’s nuclear deterrent to other EU countries.
The specifics of this strategy are still unclear, including whether France intends to actually deploy nuclear weapons to other nations. However, Poland is reportedly in discussions with France regarding this possibility.
Russia has already labeled France’s strategy to reassess its nuclear deterrence extension as “extremely confrontational.”
Despite Moscow’s objections, France’s defense concept is not entirely new. During the Cold War, the U.S. deterrence umbrella was designed to protect NATO allies under America’s nuclear power in case of a direct threat by another nuclear-armed nation, like the Soviet Union.
While France is the EU’s only nuclear power, it possesses the third-largest nuclear arsenal within NATO, after the U.S. and the U.K.