Poland to train 400,000 civilians in ‘largest military readiness effort’ since World War II

'A war is raging across our border'

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Poland now spends more of its GDP on defence than any other Nato member, per Metro.

It has become the alliance's third-largest military force, with about 216,000 personnel, and aims to boost its numbers by nearly a third over the coming decade.

With fears of a Russian attack lingering, the Polish defence ministry has now announced a training programme to teach up to 400,000 citizens basic military, medical, and cyber-resilience skills by 2027.

Referred to as 'At Readiness', the initiative will include military and crisis-response courses opened to those willing to take part.

The 'pilot phase' is believed to begin this month. Trainings are understood to be conducted at over 130 units of the Polish Armed Forces and Territorial Defence Forces.

'At Readiness' was announced Thursday (November 6) by Polish defence minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

He said: "We live in the most dangerous times since the end of World War II.

"Security begins with each of us. Each of us is called to care for our homeland.

"A war is raging across our border, acts of sabotage occur in the Baltic Sea, and there is constant struggle in cyberspace.

"All this drove us over the past six months to design a nationwide defence-training project."

He added: "In November and December alone (…) we will train about 20,000 people in individual training, but the total number…, in terms of all forms of training, is about 100,000 people," per Metro.

According to the chief of Poland’s General Staff, Wieslaw Kukula, the training programme has two primary goals: To strengthen the resilience of its citizens and to boost the overall availability, readiness, and capacity of reserves.