Overview
- The Coalition of the Willing started Exercise Koalicja on Monday in Poland, a two-week rehearsal running through November 22 that involves about 2,800 personnel from 11 countries under the Multinational Force Ukraine framework.
- The United Kingdom and France are leading the exercise with the UK supplying roughly 300 troops plus fighter jets and a tanker while France has committed about 1,000 soldiers and short-range surveillance drones and counter‑drone systems.
- Drills are focused on command-and-control, movement of troops and supplies, Turkish‑led Black Sea demining to reopen shipping routes, and allied air‑security tasks to practice protecting Ukrainian skies and ports.
- Organizers say any MNF‑U deployment would occur only at Kyiv’s request and after hostilities end, while Russian officials and state‑aligned experts have condemned the exercises as provocative.
- The exercise puts into practice plans agreed by the Coalition of the Willing after its 2025 formation and precedes related diplomatic meetings in Brussels and Berlin later this month that will shape post‑war security guarantees for Ukraine.