European troops rehearse Ukraine ceasefire deployment in Poland

Britain and France have announced a major military exercise in Poland in which troops from several European countries will test their ability to deploy into Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached, Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported.

The exercise, called Koalicja, runs from 9 to 22 November and is the first rehearsal for the Multinational Force for Ukraine (MNF-U), a body created outside Nato structures. About 2,800 troops from up to eleven countries, including Spain, will take part, with the aim of testing how to move, protect and supply a force that would help rebuild Ukraine's armed forces once fighting stops.

France is contributing about 1,500 troops and Britain 300, with further personnel from Poland, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey, according to La Vanguardia. British defence sources told the Guardian the force would be authorised to fire on Russian forces if attacked.

The MNF-U is the military arm of the Coalition of the Willing, the group of countries that have pledged military, economic and diplomatic support to Kyiv; it is jointly led by Britain and France, with its headquarters moving from Paris to London this year. "This is not a hypothetical plan, but a real force, ready to help Ukraine once the fighting stops," British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said.

The exercise will test command and control systems and the movement of personnel, equipment and supplies. British Typhoon jets and a tanker aircraft will simulate securing commercial air traffic once Ukrainian airspace reopens, while a separate maritime element in Istanbul will rehearse mine-clearance to allow commercial shipping back into Ukrainian ports.

Any deployment to Ukraine would only happen once fighting had stopped and at the request of the Ukrainian government, with no peacekeeping or ceasefire-monitoring role and no Nato or US umbrella, British Lieutenant General Tom Bateman, a co-leader of the initiative, said. French General Armel Dirou said it was not a demonstration of force, though the exercise comes as peace talks are set to resume in Abu Dhabi next week.