Polish officials rule out troop deployment to Ukraine

Poland has ruled out sending its troops to Ukraine, citing concerns that such a move could weaken its own armed forces.

A recent article by Politico has cited a senior Polish official speaking anonymously, who dismissed the idea of Polish military personnel in Ukraine but instead pointed to other forms of support.

"Poland has its own strategic dilemma because it has borders with Russia and Belarus so it cannot weaken the forces needed to prevent an attack," the senior Polish official said, clarifying that it could help with the logistics of any mission.

Poland has allocated substantial funds into its defence forces which resulted in the Polish army featuring the largest number of personnel within the European Union. Counting a total of 216,100 members as of 2024, it is behind only the United States (1.3 million) and Türkiye (481,000) within the NATO alliance.

Earlier, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that not all members of the so-called “coalition of the willing” are prepared to send their forces to Ukraine.

This reporting comes as Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz reiterated on August 20 that Poland would not send troops to Ukraine. He emphasized that the country has other tasks, including protecting NATO's eastern flank and providing infrastructure and logistics for a potential peacekeeping mission.

By Nazrin Sadigova