Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdes said the decision to halt the deployment of 4,000 US troops to Poland was made after a multi-stage coordination process. The positions of key leaders in the European Command and at all command levels were taken into account, Valdes stated.
Valdes rejected the portrayal that it was a last-minute surprise decision. “It was not a last-minute surprise decision, and portraying it as such would be wrong,” the spokesman said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
The report of an alleged last-minute cancellation had previously been picked up by several Polish and Ukrainian media outlets. The Pentagon now clarifies that the step was part of an orderly planning process.
