Poland will launch a new military training program this month as part of a broader plan to train around 400,000 people in 2026, the Defence Ministry announced on Thursday. Motivated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland now allocates more of its GDP to defense than any other NATO member. It has become the alliance’s third-largest military, with 216,000 personnel and plans to expand its forces by nearly a third over the next decade.
A group of civilians participates in military training techniques in a session billed as ‘Train with the Army’ by the country’s defense ministry, in Gdynia, Poland, on April 5, 2025.
Named by Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz as “the largest defense training in Polish history,” the program “At Readiness” will be voluntary and open to all citizens — from schoolchildren to working adults, companies, and seniors.
The program will offer a basic security course, survival training, medical instruction, and cyber hygiene classes.
“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,” Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said at a conference.
The ministry plans next year to train approximately 400,000 people “individually, in groups, as part of ‘Education with the Army’, reserve training, and voluntary compulsory military service,” Tomczyk added.
The chief of Poland’s General Staff, Wieslaw Kukula, stated that the program has two primary goals — to strengthen the resilience of citizens and communities and to boost the availability, readiness, and capacity of reserves. The program was first announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk in March to “build an army of reservists” amid heightened security concerns following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
