A day ago (Tuesday) Poland held its biggest military parade in 29 years, a show intended to show its strength to its neighbors Belarus and Russia and, as VOA Warsaw correspondent Lesia reports Bakalets, the parade hints that, after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the attitudes of the Polish authorities towards defense are changing.
Two thousand soldiers, 200 Polish and foreign military vehicles, as well as 92 aircraft.
This is Warsaw’s largest military parade in nearly three decades.
Also part of the parade were the tanks produced by the United States, “M1A1 Abrams”, the “K2” tanks and the “Howitzer K9” artillery, produced by South Korea.
Also, “HIMARS” missile launchers and “Patriot” air defense systems.
Expert Jaroslaw Wolski says that this parade is a display of the country’s military power.
“We cannot show weakness, as, unfortunately, the only language that Russians and Belarusians understand is the language of strength. The parade proves that our army is changing,” he says.
According to Mr. Wolski, changes in the Polish army began before Moscow’s attack on Kiev.
But he says that Russian aggression against Ukraine accelerated the modernization of Poland’s military arsenal.
“There are two factors that played a role: the increase in funds and the need to fill the equipment shortage, because we transferred about 30 percent of the equipment of the ground forces to Ukraine,” says Mr. Wolski.
Since 2010, with the abolition of conscription, the Polish army has been an entirely professional force. Most of its members come from military academies.
To increase the number of soldiers, Poland recently created a system that allows volunteers to register as reservists, explains Colonel Justyna Balin, spokeswoman for Poland’s central recruitment office.
“Candidates have 27 days of basic training: military discipline, tactics and shooting. After that, the soldiers take the oath and decide if they want to continue serving in the army, choose a certain professional field and continue their studies”, says Mrs. Balik for the Voice of America.
According to her, 70 percent of volunteers decide to continue their career in the army.
“This year, our plan is to recruit 25,000 soldiers. But we expect to exceed this number. We already have over 21,000 volunteer members of the army”, says Colonel Balik.
By 2035, Poland plans to double the number of its soldiers, from 175,000 to 300,000.
Waldemar Skrzypczak, retired general and former commander of the Polish Ground Forces, explains the reasons why this increase is necessary.
“We must be a powerful part of the NATO forces on the eastern flank. We feel safe because of NATO membership and we believe that the alliance protects us. But, of course, with our participation. Therefore, Poland wants its army to be ready to defend itself”, he says.
According to military experts, currently Poland is not under direct threat from Russia, or Belarus, thanks to the presence of NATO troops on Polish soil.
Experts say that the number of mercenaries of the Wagner group on the Polish-Belarusian border is small and does not pose a danger to Poland.
According to them, the Polish army already knows how to react to provocations that may come from Russia or Belarus.
