Soldiers march on Polish Independence Day in Warsaw, November 11, 2025.Image: keystone
Feb 9, 2026, 5:58 p.mFeb 9, 2026, 5:58 p.m
As part of the expansion of its army, Poland plans to create a new category of military reservists who can be mobilized in the shortest possible time in an emergency. The new rapid reaction force of the reserve will consist of trained reserve soldiers who regularly take part in exercises, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz announced in Warsaw, according to a report by the PAP agency.
The measure is part of the government’s efforts to increase the size of the EU and NATO country’s army – including reservists and members of the voluntary homeland security – to 500,000 troops by 2039. The armed forces of Germany’s neighboring country currently number around 200,000 soldiers. Because Poland feels threatened by Russia, it is arming itself.
Kosiniak-Kamysz justified the move with demographic changes that could lead to a decline in the number of recruits in the coming years. Membership in the standby reserve should therefore be voluntary and associated with benefits such as exercise allowances. It is open to women and men who are permanently assigned to their respective military units and have to train at least eight days per year.
And again balloons from Belarus
As in previous days, the armed forces again reported the intrusion of balloon-like flying objects from Belarus into Polish airspace. According to the Polish border guard, such balloons are used to smuggle cigarettes. However, it is believed that this is also intended to test the ability of the Polish security forces to react, as the newspaper “Rzeczpospolita” reported. According to this, around 200 such smuggling attempts would have been registered as early as 2025.
According to Kosiniak-Kamysz’s assessment, the incidents involving balloon-like objects served two main purposes: smuggling and provocation. They were part of an operation carried out “by Belarusian security forces or by smugglers commissioned by them” and the ongoing hybrid war waged by the allied states Belarus and Russia against Poland, the defense minister said. (sda/dpa)