WARSAW: Poland – a NATO member bordering both Ukraine and Russia – will be sending out a brochure this year informing residents how to survive possible future crises, the interior ministry said on Monday.
The mail-out follows the government on Friday announcing a slew of security-boosting measures – including large-scale military training for civilians.
The brochure will tell residents “how to deal with various hazardous situations,” a deputy director for the interior ministry’s civil protection unit, Robert Klonowski, told the PAP news agency.
For instance, they will be given tips on how to cope with “a power outage lasting several days or several hours,” he said, adding that the information would also serve for reacting to natural disasters.
The brochure will be issued in Polish, and in Ukrainian for the some 900,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country.
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“We are also planning a special version, or at least part of this guide, addressed to children,” Klonowski added.
Poland is one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies in the European Union and hosts a logistics hub through which NATO and EU member states have been sending military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
It has been warily eyeing Russia and been ramping up its defences, as the war in Ukraine – started with Russia’s all-out invasion in 2022 – rages on.
A Russian exclave, Kaliningrad, borders Poland to the north, while Ukraine lies to the country’s east.
Poland’s new military training scheme for civilians is to be ready by the end of the year “so that every adult man in Poland is trained in case of war,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.
Deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk said on Monday the scheme would be “universal and voluntary”.
Polish media reported that the military would familiarise participants with its various units across the country in training sessions ranging from one day to one month.
Other EU countries alarmed at Russia’s expansionist ambitions have stepped up public preparedness for future crises.
Sweden has already issued a similar information brochure, while Finland has a website gathering information on how ready civilians are for different emergencies.
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