Exercise Koalicja: 2,800 Troops From 11 Nations Rehearse the Multinational Force Ukraine in Poland

The ministry says the exercise will test the force's command and control, the movement of personnel, equipment and supplies, and how its components integrate; the Typhoons will simulate reassuring commercial air travel once Ukraine's airspace reopens. The force would move into Ukraine only once the fighting has stopped and at the request of Ukraine's government, and would not carry out peacekeeping or ceasefire monitoring. It is commanded by Lieutenant General Tom Bateman, and its headquarters moves from Paris to London this year. Britain and Poland first announced a major exercise for November when they signed their Warsaw Defence Plan in October; the coalition counts about 35 states, by dpa's account, and eleven send forces to this one.

The maritime element is the one part of the force Türkiye's Straits regime does not constrain, because Türkiye runs it. Clearing mines for Ukraine's ports means minehunters in the Black Sea. Under the Montreux Convention, warships of non-littoral states may stay there no more than 21 days, and in January 2024 Ankara refused passage to two former Royal Navy minehunters bound for Ukraine, citing the Convention's wartime closure of the Straits to belligerents' warships. A maritime element built from Turkish forces in Istanbul sits inside those rules; one drawn from the other ten nations would have to pass them. The exercise therefore tests on land and in the air what the coalition can bring, and at sea what one littoral member provides. Signal No. 181 carried the announcement; the after-action account, due after 22 November, is the first public measure of how much of the force exists.