Concerns about Russian attack: more and more Poles in the army

Warsaw - Against the backdrop of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Poland is registering increased interest in serving in the army.

The armed forces were able to recruit 13,742 new professional soldiers last year, said Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak (53) in Lublin on Saturday. "This is a record since the abolition of military service."

The last time conscripts were called up in Poland was in 2008, and military service was suspended shortly afterwards.

Blaszczak went on to say that the Polish armed forces currently had 164,000 soldiers, including 36,000 members of the voluntary home guard units.

Poland, an EU and NATO member state, is massively arming itself against a threat from Moscow. In the coming years, the army is to grow to 250,000 professional soldiers and 50,000 members of the Homeland Security.

In order to attract more citizens to the armed forces, Poland has introduced voluntary basic military service.

Since last fall, there have also been one-day military training courses for interested citizensthroughout the country .