Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz made the announcement following talks near Warsaw with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius.

“On March 26, we are activating as co-leaders, Poland and Germany, the armor capability coalition for support of Ukraine,” the Polish minister told a joint press conference with Pistorius.

“It is one of the most important coalitions that have been established; we are the two leading countries of this project, other partners have signed up for it, such as Great Britain, Sweden, and Italy,” he said.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said Pistorius’s personal involvement in working with Poland was a sign of friendship, partnership, and “thinking about what to do today to help Ukraine” as well as working for the security of Europe, of NATO countries and of “our civilization and our future.”

He described cooperation within NATO and the EU as fundamental to European security and said this would be strengthened and developed. In this context, Kosiniak-Kamysz drew attention to 5,000 German military personnel currently stationed in Lithuania as an example of reinforcing the security of NATO’s eastern flank as well as of Poland.

“Poland and Germany take responsibility for rapid reaction forces in Europe,” he said. “By July, our battle group, 2,500 Polish troops and 2,500 German soldiers, will be ready to react rapidly.”

He added that the force fulfilled a strategic EU plan formed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and that for the forces to represent realistic support, they had to be prepared and achieve operational capabilities.

He said that Poland and Germany would work together for a year to create the rapid reaction force. Kosiniak-Kamysz’s German counterpart stressed the need to prepare for every eventuality. “Nobody really knows whether or when Russia will [attack anybody] in Europe, but what we really see is that it is able and willing to attack Ukraine and is doing it now for more than two years,” Boris Pistorius said. “So what we have to learn all together as allies in Europe is to be prepared for any threat, especially for a threat which comes from Putin's Russia in any year. This is a task we have to do and this is what we are working on.”