Polish Chief of Defence Warns of War. MoD: There Will Not be a Dismissal

Last Friday, during the inauguration of the academic year at the Land Forces Military Academy (AWL), Kukuła stated, “Everything indicates that we are the generation that will stand with arms in hand to defend our state.” According to Kukuła, the demographic conditions in Poland require the introduction of a model of universal military service due to threats from the east. Kukuła’s statement has circulated in the media, eliciting comments from politicians, former military personnel, and commentators.

In response to a question about whether General Kukuła would be dismissed, Tomczyk replied: “No.” “General Kukuła is the Chief of the General Staff; Poland is currently in a situation where there is a war beyond our eastern border. I don’t even want to speculate on such topics,” said the Deputy Minister of Defence. He added that Kukuła’s statement, which was “made in a hypothetical mode,” should be viewed as “a kind of warning” directed at the students of the AWL.

“I would like to say very clearly that there is currently no hard scenario that states that a war will occur. I am not here to calm people down, but I certainly am not here to scare them either. Everything is in our hands; the future is happening now, and it depends both on what the world will look like on the other side of the ocean and in Europe,” stated Cezary Tomczyk, Deputy Minister of Defence.

He also denied that there were plans to reinstate conscription. “However, we want — and we are doing it — to activate soldiers in other ways,” he said, pointing to service in the Territorial Defence Forces, active reserves, “and all forms of military training that will emerge in the coming months,” such as the “Holidays with the Army” programme. This programme allows students to serve in the military for two months, for which they will receive PLN 6,000 monthly, and after five years of study and nearly a year of training, they will receive their first officer rank.

Kukuła’s statement was previously commented on by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. “I think that this statement was also taken out of context, as it was made in a specific context of the academic year opening, directed at young adepts, at cadets.” “I perceive it as a signal that we must always be ready to defend our homeland. That is the fundamental role of the army,” he said.

Former head of the National Security Bureau, Brigadier General (retired) Stanisław Koziej, assessed in a conversation with PAP that the statement “got away from the control narrative of the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.” “It could have been reasonable, justified, and made sense as a message from the highest commander directed directly and only to the cadets for their mobilization in the mission they undertook, but not as a public signal for society,” Koziej said.

Former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General (retired) Mieczysław Cieniuch, also stated to the Agency that Kukuła “should have been aware that this is a public statement and that it is not only military personnel who are listening.” He noted that such a statement could be perceived as undermining the belief “in our deterrent power and our alliances.”