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Poland is ready to start training the first few hundred Ukrainian volunteer fighters who will join the Ukrainian Legion.
Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and his deputy, Pawel Zalewski, said this during Friday’s press conference, Ukrinform reports, referring to Wnp.pl.
Kosiniak-Kamysz said the recruitment of Ukrainian volunteers is only starting now, although “we were ready for training from September 1.”
“At that time, not enough volunteers showed up. I understand that now Ukraine has taken action related to information, recruitment and promotion of this process, so we are counting on results,” he said.
When asked how many people were willing to join the Ukrainian Legion, he replied: “I once heard about the target size of one brigade. For now, the numbers are much smaller, I heard about 300 people.”
Zalewski, in turn, added that the Ukrainian Consulate General in Lublin began recruiting Ukrainian volunteers this week.
“If the first group of several hundred volunteers is created, we will train them immediately,” he said.
He recalled that Poland had trained over 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers as part of the EU training program.
“We are fully aware that Ukraine’s defense capabilities and the resilience of the Ukrainian state are key to our security. That is why we support Ukraine in every possible way,” Zalewski said.
He added that Warsaw was still working on transferring what it can to Ukraine, but also on participating in international projects, particularly those related to purchasing ammunition for Ukraine.
Earlier reports said that the first recruitment center for Ukrainian volunteers had opened at the Ukrainian Consulate General in Lublin.
The formation of the Ukrainian Legion was announced in Warsaw in July by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The unit would include volunteers from among Ukrainians permanently residing in Poland and other European countries and would be trained by the Polish Army.
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