U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said he would be “shocked” if Donald Trump agreed to station American nuclear weapons further east in Europe.
Vance’s remarks came shortly after Polish President Andrzej Duda repeated his call for the U.S. to deploy its nuclear warheads to Poland.
In interviews with The Financial Times and the BBC on Thursday, Duda argued that NATO’s eastern flank must be strengthened to deter future Russian aggression.
He told The Financial Times: “The borders of NATO moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of NATO infrastructure east. For me, this is obvious.”
“I haven’t talked to the president about that particular issue, but I would be shocked if he was supportive of nuclear weapons extending further east into Europe,” Vance said, addressing Duda’s appeal.
The Polish president’s push comes amid growing unease in the country and across Europe over concerns that a U.S.-brokered peace deal in Ukraine could embolden Russia, especially if it is on terms favorable to Moscow.
Donald Trump has moved swiftly to end Russia's three-year-long war in Ukraine, with top U.S. officials engaging in peace talks with counterparts from Moscow and Kyiv.
However, Washington’s calls for concessions have raised concerns that a potential settlement could force Ukraine to surrender large parts of its occupied territory to Russia.
This, European leaders fear, could encourage Moscow to pursue further aggression in the region.
‘Vital’ deterrent against Russia
Speaking to the BBC, Duda said that stationing U.S. warheads in Poland would be a direct response to Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland.
“It’s the same Russia that’s attacking Ukraine today, who is an aggressor, who is murdering civilians, who is bombing civilian settlements,” he said.
“And it’s moving its nuclear weapons from the depths of Russia to Belarus.”
Describing the move as purely defensive, Duda added: “This defensive tactic is a vital response to Russia’s behavior, relocating nuclear weapons in the NATO area. Poland is ready to host this nuclear weapon.”
Condemning what he called Moscow’s “imperial greed,” Duda warned that Russia remains as aggressive today as it was in Soviet times.
Duda, who leaves office in August, first presented the proposal to the U.S. in 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, it was rejected by then-U.S. President Joe Biden over concerns that stationing nuclear warheads so close to Russia’s border could escalate tensions.
The U.S. currently has nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey, Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. However, any deployment further east is likely to be viewed as highly provocative by Moscow.
France’s ‘nuclear umbrella’
Speaking to the BBC, Duda welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to extend France’s “nuclear umbrella” to cover European allies.
Macron’s proposal earlier this month came amid fears that the post-World War II security architecture, under which Europe has relied heavily on the U.S. for defense, could be nearing its end.
This has prompted many EU states to look toward France and Britain—Europe's only nuclear-armed nations—for security.
