UK and France to lead European exercise rehearsing a potential Ukraine deployment

Britain and France will lead Exercise Koalicja this month in Poland, testing a multinational European force's capacity to deploy to Ukraine after a ceasefire.

• Western officials said the force would be allowed to fire back if attacked by Russians, though engagements would be "defensive in nature."
• The roughly 2,800-strong rehearsal runs from November 9 to 22 in Poland, with troops from 11 European nations and no US contribution.
• Officials said the non-Nato force would not rely on US systems such as Starlink and would deploy away from the front line to help rebuild Ukraine's military.
• Lt Gen Tom Bateman said Britain and France were committed to "robust and binding security guarantees" for Ukraine; Putin last year called foreign troops in Ukraine "legitimate targets."
• The multinational force, established in 2025 with its operational headquarters in Paris, is not part of NATO.
• Turkey will lead a separate naval simulation from Istanbul to test readiness for potential mine-clearance operations in the Black Sea.
• Defence Secretary Wes Streeting called the exercise a real force on the ground, saying the UK is ready to support Ukraine once fighting stops.