The Puma-22 drills, which began last Friday and ended on Wednesday, were the biggest war games this year by Central Europe's Visegrad Group (V4), a regional cooperation platform that brings together Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Poland was represented at the event by troops from its 18th Mechanised Division, who exercised near the southeastern town of Nowa Dęba, according to officials.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters during his visit with Slovakia's Eduard Heger that the "Puma-22 maneuvers showed allied unity and solidarity."
He added, as quoted by his office: "NATO is a real force that can resist any aggression. We must build an army so strong that it does not have to fight - that it scares away its enemies by sheer force."
Morawiecki also said: "Our joint fight, solidarity, exercises, as well as diplomatic and financial aid for Ukraine - this is a guarantee that our alliance will ensure security. Together with US and British soldiers, we conduct a lot of military exercises."
Morawiecki told a news conference that Poland and Slovakia were "speaking with one voice" within the European Union and NATO, the PAP news agency reported.
He said: "We increase solidarity and the defense potential of our region. I thank the prime minister of the Slovak Republic, Eduard Heger, for the joint observations of the Puma-22 maneuvers."
A spokesman for Poland's 18th Mechanised Division, Maj. Przemysław Lipczyński, told reporters last week that the aim of the exercise was "to enhance the interoperability of the participating forces and to test their ability to plan, organise and execute tactical action in tandem with allies.”
Some 2,000 soldiers with around 300 pieces of military equipment took part in Puma-22, practicing "scenarios that draw on the lessons of the war in Ukraine," an official told reporters.
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Source: IAR, PAP