WASHINGTON — A new joint training center in Poland that NATO is setting up with Ukraine ideally would be used to provide military training to potentially “millions” of Ukrainian civilians living abroad who would be willing to come home to join the fight against Russia, a senior Polish security official said.
Jacek Siewiera, the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, spoke to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington.
Siewiera is one of the officials most closely involved in his country’s work supporting Ukraine’s fight and building up its own defenses against Russia. He spoke of that possible use of the new training center, which NATO announced early this year, as he pointed to Russia’s success greatly expanding its military ranks during the war in Ukraine.
More than two years into the war, Ukraine, with a population much smaller than Russia’s, is having difficulty fielding enough recruits. Eastern European countries including Poland are sounding the alarm about Russia’s strengthening military, saying President Vladimir Putin may be emboldened to turn his sights on more countries if his fight against Ukraine’s Western-allied government succeeds.
The new NATO-Ukraine center in Bydgoszcz, Poland, itself is intended to up NATO’s long-term commitment to Ukraine. That’s coming as the possibility of a new Donald Trump presidency leaves the future of U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO in some…
