Coalition of the willing holds first full-scale drill in Poland

Nearly 2,800 troops from ten countries will take part in the first full-scale field exercise of the "coalition of the willing," a multinational alliance led by France and Britain, starting on 9 November in Nowa Dęba, in south-eastern Poland, Le Monde and Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The exercise, called Koalicja, will run until 22 November and is meant to test whether the alliance could deploy forces into Ukraine on the same day a ceasefire takes hold in the war between Kyiv and Russia, which the coalition has described as its goal.

France and Britain are the main participants, alongside Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Belgium, according to the reports. Ukrainian troops will take part in the drills as well, while NATO has been briefed on them but is not directly involved. The United States is not participating, and its role in any future security guarantees for Ukraine remains largely undefined, the reports said.

Organisers said the point of the exercise is not to put tanks or missiles on display, but to test command-and-control systems and the logistics of moving troops and equipment across Europe, a task made harder by the need to cross several national borders. Countering drones will also be a focus of the drills, the reports said.

Poland was chosen to host the first exercise because it already has experience running this kind of drill, Le Monde reported. Several training centres for Ukrainian forces have operated on Polish territory since the war began, including one that is part of the European Union's military support mission for Ukraine.