Poland's military leader urges preparation for full-scale conflict

• The country plans to increase troops on its border with Russia and Belarus from 6,000 to 8,000 by August.
• Poland has increased defense spending to over 4% of its economic output this year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Poland plans to increase its armed forces to 300,000 troops within a few years.

On Wednesday, Poland's armed forces chief of staff stated that Poland needs to prepare its soldiers for all-out conflict, while the country increases the number of troops on its border with Russia and Belarus. Relations between Poland and Russia, along with its ally Belarus, have sharply deteriorated since Moscow deployed tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022, initiating a war that continues to this day.

“Today, we need to prepare our forces for full-scale conflict, not an asymmetric-type conflict,” Army Chief of Staff General Wieslaw Kukula told a press conference.

“These forces us to find a good balance between the border mission and maintaining the intensity of training in the army,” he said.

At the same event, Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Bejda announced that as of August, Poland would increase the number of troops guarding its eastern border from the current 6,000 to 8,000. He added that an additional rearguard of 9,000 troops would be able to deploy within 48 hours' notice.

In May, Poland announced details of the "East Shield," a 10-billion-zloty ($2.5 billion) program aimed at strengthening defenses along its border with Belarus and Russia. Poland plans to complete the plans by 2028.

The border with Belarus has been a flashpoint since migrants began flocking there in 2021 after Belarus opened travel agencies in the Middle East, offering a new unofficial route into Europe — a move the European Union said was designed to create a crisis.

Warsaw has increased defense spending to more than 4 percent of its economic output this year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Kukula also stated that the current high interest from candidates to join the army posed a dilemma over whether to accept more recruits than budgeted, potentially affecting military equipment procurement. He noted that interest was expected to sharply decline starting in 2027.

At the end of last year, the armed forces numbered approximately 190,000 personnel, including ground, air, naval, special forces, and territorial defense forces. Poland plans to increase this to 300,000 troops within a few years.

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