Exercise Koalicja Poland Multinational Force Ukraine, Digi Mart USA News (Poland): Allies of Ukraine, led by France and the United Kingdom, will carry out a full-scale military exercise in Poland to test their ability to deploy and operate together in the field, according to an announcement made by London and Paris on Tuesday.
About 2,800 military personnel from ten countries, namely Germany, Belgium, Spain, Estonia, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden, will take part in the exercise, called Koalicja, the Polish word for coalition, from November 9 to 22. Turkey will lead the maritime component, running a simulation exercise to secure the Black Sea.
The soldiers, including 1,100 French and 300 British personnel, will be deployed in Nowa Deba, a military training hub in southeastern Poland about 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The Multinational Force for Ukraine, created in March 2025, is intended to deploy quickly once a ceasefire is signed, helping Ukraine deter future Russian aggression. It is also meant to support the country’s economic recovery by securing the Black Sea for Ukrainian agricultural exports and reopening its airspace.
In Paris and London, officials stress that the MNF-U is not a NATO force and that its possible future deployment, far from the dividing line between Ukraine and Russia, as well as Koalicja, is not a combat mission, a show of force or a peacekeeping operation.
The exercise is designed to test plans, logistics movement, communications and the compatibility of command information systems under real conditions outside NATO structures.
To show that Koalicja has no offensive purpose, only light equipment and no armored vehicles are being sent, mainly to protect deployed troops. The French army will field a unit of about fifty “contact drones” with a range of a few kilometers, and counter-drone systems will also be deployed.
Western officials said forces would defend themselves against any attack and that rules of engagement are defensive in nature.
In total, 24 of the 36 member countries of the Coalition of the Willing have committed to participating in the air, maritime or land components of the MNF-U. Poland and Germany have already said they will not deploy ground troops to Ukraine.
