NATO member Poland will soon send out a guide for its citizens on how to survive future crises, after it warned its male population they would have to go through military training amid rising tensions with Russia.
The country, which borders both Ukraine and Russia, will be sending the pamphlets to households this year, which will inform them on ‘how to deal with various hazardous situations,’ a deputy director for the interior ministry’s civil protection unit, Robert Klonowski, told the PAP news agency.
Civilians will be given wartime tips on how to cope with ‘a power outage lasting several days or several hours,’ he said, adding that the information would also serve for reacting to natural disasters.
The brochure will be issued in Polish, and in Ukrainian for the some 900,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country.
‘We are also planning a special version, or at least part of this guide, addressed to children,’ Klonowski added.
Poland is one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies in the European Union and hosts a logistics hub through which NATO and EU member states have been sending military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
It has been warily eyeing Russia and been ramping up its defences, as Vladimir Putin’s invasion rages on.
Poland has been making overtures towards a war footing over the past week, with the country’s prime minister Donald Tusk revealing that his government is working out a system to militarily train all men in the event of a war.
Polish Army soldiers take part in a Lithuanian-Polish Brave Griffin 24/II military exercise near the Suwalki Gap near the Polish border at the Dirmiskes village, in Lithuania on Friday, April 26, 2024
Members of the National Police Special Purpose Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops on a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine March 7, 202
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk (pictured) revealed that his government is working out a system to militarily train all men in the event of a war
Tusk told the country’s Sejm – the lower house of parliament – that the military training would create a reserve force that is ‘adequate to possible threats.’
Officials aim to have a plan for the scheme, which would also be open to women volunteers, finalised by the end of the year.
That same day, he revealed he was having serious discussions with France about falling under the protections of their nuclear umbrella to his parliament.
During his announcement, Tusk emphasised the Eastern European county could not rely on conventional weaponry alone, noting that Ukraine had surrendered its nuclear ammunition to continue to be attacked by Russia.
‘We must be aware that Poland must reach for the most modern capabilities also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons … this is a race for security, not for war,’ he said.
NATO member Poland exists in a unique, and precarious, geographic position in Europe that has forced it to take its security seriously.
A Russian exclave, Kaliningrad, borders Poland to the north, while Ukraine lies to the country’s east.
Other EU countries alarmed at Russia’s expansionist ambitions have stepped up public preparedness for future crises.
Tusk said the military training would create a reserve force that is ‘adequate to possible threats’ (Pictured: Volunteers taking part in basic training with the Polish army in Nowogrod, Poland, on Thursday June 20, 2024)
President Donald Trump shifted the US position from being a defender of Ukraine to withholding military aid, intelligence, and signalling a support for Russia and Vladimir Putin
Sweden has already issued a similar information brochure, while Finland has a website gathering information on how ready civilians are for different emergencies.
The European Union last week agreed to boost the continent’s defences and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security in response to the Trump administration’s shift in stance on Ukraine.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that the pause of US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine has not limited defence intelligence-sharing.
‘We never shut off intelligence for … anything defensive that the Ukrainians need,’ Mr Witkoff said.
A pause on sharing US intelligence that can be used for offensive purposes by Ukrainian forces remains in effect, according to a US official familiar with the matter who was not authorised to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The official suggested that progress could be made toward reinstating intelligence-sharing with Ukraine during the Saudi talks.
