Realignment of NATO
USA withdraw from an important base for Ukraine aid
04/10/2025 – 8:15 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The US armed forces have withdrawn from a decisive military base near the Ukrainian border. A new strategy is hidden behind it.
Under the new Trump administration, the United States has significantly reduced its support for Ukraine in the Russian attack war compared to the term of office Joe Bidens. New troop movements near the Polish-Ukrainian border indicate that the US armed forces are also gradually withdrawing on site. The US Army’s European and Africa command announced the withdrawal of its units from Jasionka airfield near Rzeszów.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, the airfield, around 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, has served as a significant logistics hub for auxiliary deliveries to Kiev. At the same time, Moscow had emphasized several times in the past to want to attack the airfield. According to the US armed forces, the deduction was checked and planned over several months. In the future, the company is to be continued under Polish leadership and in cooperation with other NATO allies.
The official explanation states that the deduction is part of a “comprehensive strategy to optimize US military operations, to improve support for allies and partners and to increase efficiency”. The units concerned are to be moved to other locations in Poland. So far, specific new locations have not been mentioned. The US troops’ headquarters are currently located in Poland in Poznan-several hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian border. If the troops are laid there, this would be a clear signal that the Trump government will further attract its commitment in the region.
The Polish Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirmed that the airfield is now mainly operated by Norwegian, German, British and Polish staff and other NATO partners. The company is currently continuing.
As the “Defense Express”, which specializes in security and defense policy, reports, the US deduction is also embedded in a more comprehensive NATO strategy: As part of the planned establishment of a new command for security and training aid for Ukraine (NSATU), an office in Wiesbaden will in future be the administration, planning, coordination and organization of Accept arms deliveries centrally. This office will also look after training programs for Ukrainian armed forces and coordinate the management of logistics centers on the eastern flank of NATO, including Jasionka.
The withdrawal of the US troops is therefore not a spontaneous decision by the new US government, but part of a strategic realignment. Nevertheless, the step is symbolically seamlessly joined into a threatening policy that Trump has followed towards Europe since the beginning of its second term. Among other things, he promised to pull out the American troops almost entirely from Europe – a project that could also have significant consequences for Germany.
