Poland drafts 'pre-war law' based on lessons from Ukraine
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (photo: Getty Images)
Poland is developing a special bill to prepare the state and its defense forces to operate at full readiness in the event of war, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said, according to RMF24 and Rzeczpospolita.
According to the head of Poland's Defense Ministry, the document is being developed based on an analysis of and lessons from the war in Ukraine.
The main goal is to bridge the gap between the country's functioning in peacetime and the formal introduction of martial law.
Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that the government must be prepared for the worst-case scenarios amid growing security threats and hybrid attacks.
"If foreign missiles violate our airspace, if drones fly near the border, sabotage takes place, and GPS is jammed — when should we prepare, if not now?" he said.
The new document is intended to close gaps in legislation and speed up decision-making processes.
The main changes include the possibility of deploying Polish and allied NATO forces more quickly before martial law is declared, as well as fully synchronizing Poland’s defense planning with NATO systems.
They also include preparing critical infrastructure and expanding the list of services involved in defense.
The bill also provides for updating training rules and regulating the actions of civilian employees in leadership positions during a crisis.
The bill is currently undergoing interagency consultations, after which it will be submitted to the Sejm for consideration.
Polish authorities regularly record security incidents amid the war in Ukraine. In particular, missiles and drones have repeatedly violated Polish airspace during Russian attacks.
In addition, security services have reported attempted railway sabotage, cyberattacks, and cases of damage to infrastructure cables on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently warned that the country faces very difficult weeks and months as Russian attacks on Ukraine move increasingly closer to the Polish border.
According to him, Polish services are on heightened alert to prevent the threat from spreading to Warsaw.
In addition, Poland officially introduced new rules for shooting down aerial targets in its airspace on October 1.
In particular, the Polish military was authorized to destroy hostile objects without visual identification.
