Germany Skips First Coalition Drills Planned in Poland
Germany will not join the first coalition drills in Poland, while Italy and Bulgaria also limit involvement and call for security or diplomatic solutions.
Germany has decided not to take part in the first exercises organized by the so-called «coalition of the willing», which are scheduled to be held in Poland in autumn 2026, DPA reported, citing sources in the German government.
Berlin attributed the decision to the format of the planned drills. According to the agency, the exercises will be relatively limited in scale and focused mainly on command-and-staff procedures, prompting the German military to stay out.
Italy had made a similar decision shortly before. The office of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Rome was prepared to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine through monitoring and training initiatives conducted outside Ukrainian territory.
Meloni also renewed her proposal for a collective security mechanism modeled on Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. In her view, such an arrangement could become the central political element of future security guarantees for Ukraine.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had previously announced preparations for the exercises, saying that British and French units would play the leading role.
Bulgaria had earlier refused to join the «coalition of the willing». The country’s prime minister argued that the Ukrainian conflict should be ended not through further military force, but through a decisive diplomatic initiative capable of halting the escalation.