{"id":9606,"date":"2026-08-03T15:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9606\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T15:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:15:08","slug":"poland-readies-ukraine-coalition-of-willing-drills-eyes-nato-support-for-border-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9606\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland readies Ukraine \u2018Coalition of Willing\u2019 drills, eyes NATO support for border defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARSAW, Poland \u2014 As Europe seeks a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine<\/a>, Poland is preparing to host the first military drills for the so-called Coalition of the Willing<\/a> with British and French forces. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Polish military<\/a> is strengthening cooperation with Germany\u2019s Bundeswehr under the East Shield project to boost the resilience of its eastern borders to attacks and hybrid warfare from Russia and Belarus, while negotiating with the United States, France and the United Kingdom to also involve their forces.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of National Defence told Defense News that the military exercise, which is scheduled to be held this fall, is part of the group\u2019s preparations for the post-war reality in Ukraine. Before the conflict ends, coalition nations want to reach a higher level of force coordination, and the drills are expected to contribute to their increased interoperability. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe exercise planned on the territory of Poland is part of the preparatory activities of the Coalition of the Willing as part of future security guarantees for Ukraine. Its objectives include testing the command-and-control system, the organization of logistical support, and the deployment of troops, thereby confirming the force\u2019s ability to operate once hostilities have ended,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The decision to hold the forthcoming exercise in Poland reflects the country\u2019s particular role as the logistical and infrastructure hub for the Multinational Force Ukraine (MNF-U), according to the Polish ministry representative. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe core participants in the exercise on Polish territory will be France and the United Kingdom, acting as the framework nations of the Coalition of the Willing,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

The coalition is an informal group of nations led by London and Paris, established in 2025 to coordinate military and political support for Kyiv. While coordinating efforts with its French and British counterparts, the Polish ministry is also negotiating the participation of further allies in the fall drills. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, military-to-military discussions are underway regarding the participation of other countries that are members of the Coalition of the Willing,\u201d according to the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Under the country\u2019s 10 billion zloty ($2.6 billion) East Shield initiative, the Polish military is advancing projects to bolster defensive infrastructure, including fortifications and natural terrain obstacles along the roughly 800 km (497 miles) of border with Russia\u2019s Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus. <\/p>\n

In a statement, the Polish military said that rather than a single continuous line of trenches, bunkers and reinforced concrete anti-tank obstacles, the East Shield is a diversified defensive infrastructure system that incorporates the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, including the rapid increase in the use of drones and other unmanned systems. <\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on operational requirements, the project will also include the construction of logistics hubs, material storage facilities, fortification elements and shelters, as well as drone detection and tracking systems using radar, thermal imaging and acoustic sensors,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThese capabilities will help effectively counter unmanned aerial systems, which, as the war in Ukraine has demonstrated, are being used with increasing frequency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poland is seeking to make East Shield a priority project for NATO, and, as part of its discussions with allies, the nation\u2019s military has established cooperation with Germany\u2019s Bundeswehr. <\/p>\n

In July 2026, the Polish Army said that a German military engineering unit had been deployed to Poland on a rotational basis to participate in developing the infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the invitation of the Polish side, German soldiers are supporting the Polish Armed Forces in expanding defensive infrastructure on NATO\u2019s north-eastern flank,\u201d said Colonel Marek Pietrzak, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. \u201cThe involvement of the German contingent is a practical demonstration of Allied solidarity and the result of the steadily expanding military cooperation between Poland and Germany. The initiative forms part of NATO\u2019s broader efforts to strengthen deterrence and defense capabilities on the Alliance\u2019s eastern flank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Polish defense officials say they are in talks with Baltic and Nordic states, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, to exchange experiences and join forces on border strengthening efforts. <\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister and National Defence Minister W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz says that Poland also wants to strengthen its cooperation with the United States, the UK and France.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolish and German soldiers are working side by side to strengthen defensive infrastructure along the border and reinforce deterrence on NATO\u2019s eastern flank,\u201d Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a July 22 social media post. \u201cThis is only the beginning. Reconnaissance is underway ahead of support from French troops, and in September, reconnaissance involving American soldiers will begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARSAW, Poland \u2014 As Europe seeks a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, Poland is preparing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[283,211,5463,213,206,47,8,32,2409,5464,7,197,20,457,71],"class_list":["post-9606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-belarus","tag-circulated-defense-news","tag-coalition-of-the-willing","tag-defense-news","tag-dn-dnr","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-military-exercise","tag-multinational-force-ukraine","tag-nato","tag-poland","tag-russia","tag-uk","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}