During a speech before the Parliament and Polish President Andrzej Duda, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced government plans to prepare a new military training framework for every adult male in Poland to create an active reserve force for possible conflict. 

The legal framework for the plan is expected to be ready by the end of the year.

„The preparations are underway for large-scale military training for every adult man. Women also would be included, but, as we all know, the war is, however, still more the men’s domain,” Tusk said.

The Prime Minister also announced that he wants Poland to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines and the Dublin Convention regulating the use of cluster munitions.

„Following numerous discussions and summits, a comprehensive… the image is developing that we cannot ignore despite its discomfort for us, a picture that reflects the ongoing transformations in the realm of geopolitics,” Tusk said.

As part of his address before the Sejm on the international and security situation in Poland, the Prime Minister compared the capabilities of the Polish army with those of the Ukrainian ( 800,000 soldiers) and Russian armies (1.3 million soldiers). 

“We are talking today about the need for Poland to have an army of 500,000 soldiers, together with reservists,” he said.

“It seems that if we organise this wisely, and I talk about this constantly with the Minister of National Defence, we will have to use only a few additional means to improve the situation. It will be the reserve system, but also intense training to turn civilians into full-fledged soldiers during a conflict,” the Prime Minister said.

Tusk reiterated that despite the “profound correction” of US policy towards the war in Ukraine, “we cannot take offence at reality”. 

Donald Tusk also mentioned that women will be included in the new security framework of Poland, but for now, war remains mostly a “thing of men”.

“It is not our job to review for satisfaction, or good rhetoric, the moves of our greatest ally. It is our job to ensure our security,” the Prime Minister said, referring to the new position of the US regarding the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The information that Tusk presented to the Sejm included the report on the extraordinary European Council meeting, which approved a plan to rearm Europe. The project includes a €150 billion loan package and an increase in defence without strict EU budget rules.

The EU plan also includes the possibility of redirecting funds for defence-related purposes from the EU Cohesion Policy fund. The Prime Minister said such decisions will be made by national governments.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia sees the EU militarisation plan as a threat to its security.

According to a Kremlin official, the idea to turn “economic alliance into a military alliance” would make it more difficult to achieve peace in Ukraine and shall be met with Russian response. 

“All this militarisation is taking place mainly against Russia. Of course, this can be a reason for us to be deeply concerned,” Peskov said.

Source: PAP

Photo: @SztabGenWP

Tomasz Modrzejewski