Poland plans to give all men military training in ‘race for security’

Poland plans to put “every adult male” in the country through military training and to pursue the acquisition of ­nuclear weapons, its prime minister ­announced on Thursday.

The armed forces which, at about 200,000-strong, are already the largest in the European Union, will be expanded to 500,000 including reservists, ­Donald Tusk told MPs in Warsaw.

“Today, the situation for Poland and in particular for Ukraine is more difficult than it was a few months ago, and we have to deal with this fact,” he said.

It remains unclear how the universal training for men would work. Poland suspended conscription in 1999 and abolished the system a decade later.

Tusk said he was not proposing a return to a mandatory draft but was ­interested in Switzerland’s model, which involves conscription for all men when they reach the age of 20.

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