The project could be approved by the end of the year, according to Deputy Defense Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka

Poland could pay up to 17 billion zloty ($4.4 billion) for a permanent base on its territory, the presidential National Security Bureau (BBN) has said. The project, which is currently being discussed with Washington, involves a facility that could house 5,000 troops, the agency told the newspaper Rzeczpospolita this week.

Warsaw offered to host a permanent US base during President Donald Trump's first term in 2018, proposing to name the facility 'Fort Trump.' Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed this week that a deal on the base was nearing completion.

Deputy Defense Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, who traveled to the US this week for the talks on the base among other things, stated that the final decision rests with Trump and that she did not expect it to be made before the review of the posture of US forces, which is expected to be finalized in November or December. According to the BBN, the base could be completed in 2029 under "optimal conditions."

Under Trump, Washington has pressed European NATO members to boost defense spending and take on more responsibility for arming Ukraine while the US concentrates resources on competing with China. The US is also widely expected to scale back its military presence in Europe as part of this strategy shift.

America still considers Poland a "model ally," according to US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby, the man behind the US policy shift that has since become known as 'NATO 3.0.' Sobkowiak-Czarnecka also told journalists this week she had heard "many warm words from the American side acknowledging our preparedness and motivation."

The US already has a permanent Army garrison and command headquarters in the city of Poznan, although most of the 10,000 US troops stationed in the country serve on a rotational basis. According to Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Wziatek, this number could grow to 15,000, with 5,000 stationed permanently at the new base.

Warsaw has been one of Kiev's most ardent supporters in its ongoing conflict with Moscow. It also serves as a key logistics hub for delivering Western military aid to Ukraine while also bordering the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the northeast.

Tensions between Moscow and Warsaw recently flared as Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski vowed to inflict a swift defeat upon Russia in case of a direct clash with NATO. "If Russia attacked us and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly," he stated in mid-September, prompting Nikolay Patrushev, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, to warn that Poland could "cease to exist" within days if it undertakes military action against Russia and forces Moscow to use its full arsenal.

(RT.com)