I'd defend our nation': Poles prepare for growing threat of war

"Cezary Pruszko still remembers the civil defence training of his Communist-era schooldays map reading, survival skills, and a sense that the danger of war was real and ever present. My generation grew up with those threats. You didn't have to explain why this mattered, said the 60-year-old Pruszko, as he refreshed those skills at an army base outside Warsaw on a recent frosty Saturday morning."

"The training, designed to boost civilian resilience, was part of a new programme that aims to train 400,000 Polish citizens by 2027. The voluntary scheme is open to anyone from schoolchildren to pensioners. We are living in the most dangerous times since the end of the second world war, said Poland's defence minister, Wadysaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, at the programme's launch earlier this month. Each of us must have the skills, knowledge and practical knowhow to cope in a crisis."

"There is an acute awareness in Poland of how the country's geographical location at the centre of Europe has left it historically vulnerable to attack. The full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022 focused minds, and this year drone incursions into Polish airspace and a wave of sabotage attacks linked to Russian intelligence have added to the alarm. Most recently, a railway line was blown up earlier this month, with authorities claiming Russia organised the attack and had intended to cause casualties."

Poland has launched a large-scale voluntary civil defence programme to train 400,000 citizens by 2027, open to schoolchildren through pensioners. Training includes map reading, survival skills, gas mask fitting, shelter tours, and basic fire-starting techniques to boost civilian resilience. Security policy is being overhauled after the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drone incursions, and sabotage attacks linked to Russian intelligence, including a recent railway bombing. Defence spending will rise to 4.8% of GDP. New buildings must include bomb shelters, older shelters are being re-equipped, and construction has begun on an eastern shield along the Belarus border.

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