Lower Thirds: 

0:02	Report by  Tessa Walther
0:25	Wlaldyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz | Polish Defense Minister
0:39	 September 10, 2025
0:50	November 17, 2025
2:00 	Oscar Luigi Guccione | German Marshall Fund

(( info: Poland is stepping up efforts to prepare its population for a potential Russian threat. The government’s goal: to train civilians through weekend military exercises in case of war. This Saturday, the first cohort is beginning the course. Our reporter Tessa Walther travelled to Warsaw to gauge public reaction to the plan. ))

Script: 

00:00 ((images: main square with christmas tree)) 

Christmas is already making its presence felt here in Poland’s capital, Warsaw. 

Many hope for a peaceful holiday season. But Poles are acutely aware that, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, peace can no longer be taken for granted. 

That’s why the government has announced a new military training programme for civilians. 

00.22 
++++SOT Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Defence minister Poland++++  
**06/11/2025** 
Each of us must have skills and practical knowledge of how to behave in a difficult situation. // We are living in the most dangerous times since the end of World War II. For almost 4 years a full-scale war is happening just beyond our borders. 

00.38

Poland has been at the centre of several security incidents in recent months.  

**Date: September 10, 2025** 

Particularly high-profile: the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones in September;  

**Date: November 17, 2025** 

followed by rail sabotage allegedly carried out by members of Russian intelligence just this week. 

These events have sparked debates about the country’s defence readiness. The voluntary military training - including first aid and survival exercises- is one response. 

And while Poles are split on many subjects, civilian preparedness does not seem to be one of them here in Warsaw. 

01.12 ((auch Gegenschuss)) 

+++Voxes+++ 

((man))
The military training is quite necessary given the geopolitical situation, the security situation in Poland and Europe in general. 

01.20
((man))
It's a good opportunity at first. But also it's kind of scary because it's showing what times we are living in.  

01.25
((woman))
If they will be conducted properly they will be quite useful. For example, people could know how to get to the proper shelter  

01.35
In recent years, Poland has invested heavily in its armed forces. 

The Polish army is now NATO’s third largest, with more than 200,000 soldiers. 

01.43

**Graphics**
And with defence spending exceeding 4 percent of GDP, Poland invests more than any other NATO member relative to the size of its economy. 

01:51
Experts say that the new military training programme could take Poland’s ambitions a step further. 

01:51

+++Oscar Luigi Guccione, German Marshall Fund+++ 
These trainings are useful to prepare a larger part of the population to react to imminent threats at the very beginning, and from a second end to actually scale up the number of reservists that can be called up in case of war.  

02:15
By 2027, the programme aims to train 400,000 people. With that, Poland hopes that it will be on the right course of action to safeguard the peace it hopes to preserve. 

ENDE: 02:28