Mariusz Błaszczak made the statement at a training area in the southeastern town of Nowa Dęba on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The defence minister handed certificates of operational readiness to commanders of local regiments and signed four contracts for the delivery of equipment and ammunition to the Polish army, including 120 mm shells for the self-propelled Rak mortar, according to officials.
Błaszczak told the gathering that “the Polish army is in very good shape,” as evidenced by “the modern weaponry that’s been reaching the military in the past few years,” as well as “the creation of new military units, especially to the east of the Vistula river,” and “thousands of young people joining the army.”
He stated: “As a result, the army is keeping our homeland secure.”
The defence minister noted that next year the Polish army would have “96 Apache attack helicopters and 500 HIMARS rocket artillery launchers, as that’s what’s required to deter the aggressor.”
Błaszczak added that the Polish army was also expanding in terms of troop numbers, which rose from 97,000 in 2015 to 186,000 in 2023, the PAP news agency reported.
The defence minister stressed that “a war is going on beyond Poland's eastern border,” while “the hybrid attack, launched against Poland from Belarus two years ago, continues.”
He added that there was also “a new threat posed by the conflict in Israel,” which would spark “a wave of migrants” seeking to reach Europe.
Błaszczak stated: “The response to all these threats is a strong Polish army.”
The defence minister was accompanied in Nowa Dęba by Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, the newly appointed chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army.
Kukuła announced that next year Poland would host Europe’s biggest army exercise, Dragon-24, featuring 15,000 Polish soldiers and 5,000 NATO troops, including from the United States and Britain, the PAP news agency reported.
Wednesday is day 595 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Nowiny24.pl, polskieradio24.pl