The Polish government is considering increasing the size of the armed forces to 500,000 people.

This was stated by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during a speech to parliament in Warsaw.

The decision to increase the armed forces came after Tusk’s visit to France, where he discussed with President Emmanuel Macron the possibility of using French nuclear weapons to protect European allies.

At the same time, due to the diminishing role of the United States in the defense of the European Union, Poland is already NATO’s leader in terms of the share of GDP allocated to defense, which in 2025 will be 4.7%.

Tusk also explains the increase in defense spending by the fact that Russia is preparing not only for further confrontation with Ukraine, but also for a possible full-scale conflict with larger opponents within three to four years. According to him, it requires Poland to take decisive steps to build up and staff its armed forces.

For example, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced in the Sejm that military training for all Polish men would be organized in Poland. He noted that work on that was already underway. It is planned that by the end of this year, a model of appropriate training will be developed.

In addition, Poland is taking other measures to strengthen its armed forces, including considering the possibility of obtaining nuclear weapons.

Although the country is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and cannot develop its own nuclear weapons, it can join joint programs with allies such as France and the United Kingdom.

In addition, Tusk confirmed that Poland plans to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, following the example of Lithuania.

Increase in the Polish Armed Forces

The Polish Armed Forces have been building up their ground component for a long time due to the growing threats from Russia and Belarus.

Back in 2017, Militarnyi reported that the Ministry of National Defense of Poland reported an increase in the number of personnel in the Armed Forces from 96,000 in 2015 to 106,000 in 2017.

In 2019, the Polish Ministry of National Defense announced its intention to double the number of national armed forces to more than 200,000. This figure remained relevant until 2024, when it was officially confirmed that the size of the Polish army had exceeded 200 thousand soldiers.

At the same time, in October 2024, adjustments were made to increase the number of troops to 240,000. According to the draft budget for 2025, Poland plans to expand its army to 298,871 people, of whom 241,728 will be military personnel.

According to Dziennik Zbrojny, the budget draft for 2025 provides for the following planned limits for the average annual staffing level of military personnel:

• 150,000 contract servicemen, and another 8,028 contract servicemen will be trained;
• 44,000 soldiers of territorial defense;
• 35,000 soldiers of voluntary basic military service and 4,700 soldiers of voluntary service who will be in training;
• 30,000 active reserve soldiers, of whom 5,000 will be on duty on specific days;
• 57,143 civilian employees.