KYIV, Ukraine — Thousands of European troops will assemble in Poland next week for the Coalition of the Willing exercise, the first large-scale drill for a prospective multinational force that could deploy to Ukraine once the war with Russia concludes, according to European officials.
The exercise coincides with planned talks among U.S., Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and 11, special envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday. The meeting follows a volatile year for diplomacy that stalled after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February and resumed in September, when Witkoff and fellow envoy Jared Kushner met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before traveling to Kyiv for their first visit as negotiators.
Britain and France will co-lead KOALICJA 26.2 from Nov. 9 to 22, drawing 2,800 personnel from 11 countries for coordinated activities in Poland, France and Turkey under the coalition’s military arm, the Multinational Force-Ukraine, or MNF-U. U.S. troops will not take part.
Planned air, land and maritime drills will, according to the British Ministry of Defence, test how to move, protect and sustain a force intended to help rebuild Ukraine’s Armed Forces when hostilities cease.
Participants include Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Training scenarios will prepare units for potential missions such as securing critical infrastructure, advising and training Ukrainian forces, contributing to air defense support and clearing mines in the Black Sea, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces said.
“This exercise shows the UK is stepping up, alongside France and our allies, to prepare for the day peace comes to Ukraine. This isn’t a hypothetical plan; it’s a real force, ready to help Ukraine once the fighting stops,” British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said in a ministry statement.
Officials say the MNF-U would not operate as a peacekeeping or ceasefire-monitoring mission and would not fall under NATO command. Any deployment to Ukraine would occur only after a ceasefire and at Kyiv’s request.
Ceasefire oversight “would be a different task from that of the multinational force, whose aim is different in nature because it is meant to support the Ukrainian army in its ability to be beefed up,” former French Ambassador to Ukraine Gaël Veyssière said in April, according to prior public remarks.
The drills will also validate command-and-control arrangements and evaluate how different components can integrate and function effectively as one multinational formation, the British ministry said.
Britain is sending 300 personnel, including soldiers of the British Army’s 7th Light Mechanised Brigade, the Desert Rats, to rehearse logistics. Poland will manage MNF-U movements after the war but will not deploy its own troops into Ukraine.
Nearly 2,000 Polish soldiers will participate alongside foreign contingents, the Polish defence ministry said.
France is contributing “hundreds” of troops, including a unit fielding about 50 contact drones, the second such element after one deployed to Romania, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jacques de Montgros told lawmakers last month.
Turkey will not send troops to Poland, the French ministry said, but will establish the MNF-U maritime component in Istanbul to test mine clearance arrangements aimed at restoring safe commercial shipping to Ukrainian ports, according to the British statement.
“This exercise will show that the Multinational Force-Ukraine is a real, capable, readily deployable force that represents a serious commitment from Coalition of the Willing nations to Ukraine’s long-term stability and security,” said MNF-U commander, British Lt. Gen. Tom Bateman.
Announcements did not specify a final MNF-U troop total for any future deployment. Earlier this year, Britain and France indicated they were prepared to provide roughly 5,000 troops each.
Even a minimal tripwire presence would require 10,000 to 25,000 troops, the Center for Strategic and International Studies assessed last year. Because only about one-third of a force is available for frontline duty at a time, rotations would raise the total requirement substantially, Ed Arnold, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and a former British military officer, has said publicly.
Russian President Vladimir Putin opposes any foreign troop presence in Ukraine and warned in September 2025 that Western forces there would be considered legitimate targets.
While the MNF-U is not a peacekeeping operation, Polish defence officials said the force is intended to reassure Kyiv against the risk of renewed Russian aggression once the war ends.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday urged allies to move quickly, noting that Russian strikes continue to hit the power grid and other critical infrastructure as Ukraine approaches its fifth winter of full-scale war. “Peace has no alternative, and postwar security guarantees must be truly cast-iron,” he said.
Coalition of the Willing exercise timeline and scope
KOALICJA 26.2 runs Nov. 9–22 across Poland, France and Turkey. It will focus on logistics, command integration and maritime mine clearance frameworks to support a potential MNF-U mission after a ceasefire and at Ukraine’s request.
Poland’s role in hosting the exercise follows its decision to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to Kyiv, as previously reported in Poland MiG-29s to Ukraine amid thaw in Warsaw-Kyiv ties.