Work is under way to make all men in Poland undergo military training, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Efforts are being made to "prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in Poland," he told the Sejm. "We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war, so that this reserve is comparable and adequate to the potential threats."
Tusk said the Ukrainian army has 800,000 soldiers, whilst Russia has around 1.3 million and he wants to increase the size of the Polish army, including reservists, to 500,000 from around 200,000 now. "We're talking about the need to have an army of half a million in Poland, including the reservists," he said.
The prime minister said his government was also "carefully examining" France's proposal to include Europe under its nuclear umbrella. "Today, it is clear that we would be safer if we had our own nuclear arsenal, that is beyond doubt. In any case the road to that would be very long and there would have to be a consensus too," he said.
Poland is already planning to spend 4.7% of its economic output on defence this year, the highest proportion in the Nato alliance.
Tusk told parliament that spending should increase to 5% of GDP. Earlier, President Duda proposed amending the constitution to make defence spending at a level of 4% of GDP compulsory
The prime minister also said he supports Poland withdrawing from the Ottawa convention that bans the use of antipersonnel landmines, and also possibly from the Dublin convention that bans the use of cluster munitions.
Donald Tusk announces military training plans for all men in Poland - BBC News
