Poland Plans for All Adult Men to Train for the Military

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has told Poland's parliament that his government is working on a plan for all adult men in the nation to be trained for the military. The goal is to have a model prepared by the end of the year, he said, that would allow for a reserve force "comparable and adequate to the potential threats." At the moment, Tusk said Friday, Ukraine's army has 800,000 soldiers and Russia's about 1.3 million. He said he wants to increase Poland's army from the current 200,000 or so to 500,000, the BBC reports. Women who volunteer also would be allowed to join the military.

Tusk said he's working with the defense minister on providing "intensive training to make those who do not go into the army fully-fledged and competent soldiers during a conflict." Part of the impetus is the decline in US support, which is leading European nations to increase aid to Ukraine and their own defense spending. In addition, Russia has increased its military budget as it presses its invasion of Ukraine. "Today, the situation of Poland, objectively and the situation of Ukraine above all, is more difficult than it was a few months ago," Tusk said, per Euronews, "and we have to deal with this fact." (More Poland stories.)