By Tass
Copyright tass
MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. More than 60,000 troops are taking part in the Iron Defender military exercise in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a training ground in Ustka on the Baltic shore.
“Since the very beginning of the drills, over 60,000 servicemen have participated, the vast majority of them are Polish soldiers,” Tusk said in a broadcast aired by TVP Info.
Specifically in the drills at the training ground in Ustka, 18,000 military personnel from Poland and other NATO countries are engaged, the Polish premier specified.
Additionally, Tusk stressed that for the first time ever in Poland Patriot missile systems will be tested during the maneuvers as well as the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS).
In September, Poland, jointly with NATO, is holding a division-sized military exercise codenamed Iron Defender. It involves the participation of 34,000 troops and 600 units of hardware. The drills are held at ranges in Ustka on the Baltic Sea, in Orzysz near the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, and in Nowa Deba in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship close to the Ukrainian border.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz announced plans for the biggest in years large-scale divisional exercises, conducted jointly with NATO, at the end of May 2025. As he explained, the drills are a direct response to the Zapad 2025 military exercises held by Russia and Belarus.
