Some 1,500 troops from France and Britain will arrive in Poland in September for the first exercises of the coalition of the willing. Polish Deputy Defence Minister Pawel Bejda said this on TVP Info’s morning programme. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the coalition’s first joint manoeuvres on Tuesday.
“About 1,500 troops will arrive from the United Kingdom and France. These will be so-called logistics and transport manoeuvres, meaning that we are preparing for certain activities related to the deployment and transportation of troops. We simply want to demonstrate that we can do this”, he said.
Bejda recalled that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland has handled up to 95% of the transfers of various types of equipment and weapons to Ukraine.
The deputy minister also said the exercises could serve as a signal to Russia.
“Yes, we would like Russia to understand this too. That we are prepared for all possible scenarios and can count on our allies, our NATO allies”, he added.
He said the issue could also involve a permanent French military presence in Poland.
“We have received signals from the French side. We will discuss this. Any number of allied troops in Poland, permanently stationed allied troops, is very much welcome. So I think those discussions are still ahead of us”, he said.
